Newcastle Utd and Brighton played out a 1:1 draw on Saturday afternoon in what proved to be an anti-climax for the 51,997 inside St James’ Park although the 2,000 who travelled from the south coast probably left slightly happier than those in black and white.
And in all honesty Newcastle looked lack-lustre from the start and that was only made worse when they went behind on 18 minutes when, following a right-wing corner was met by Danny Welbeck whose header found Joel Veltman, and he in turn fired home from close range.
Brighton immediately went into defensive mode and with their ability to use the clock to kill any enthusiasm that Newcastle tried to inject; the stop start pace of the game did the magpies no favours.
Time and again Newcastle were thwarted in their attempts to get any momentum into their play and in truth they never really caused any problems defensively as their endeavours broke down through an inability to play a decent final ball and the longer the game went on the more hurried and uncontrolled their play came.
It wasn’t until the final minute of an extended 50-minute half that Newcastle’s passing finally paid dividends when some decent interplay involving Gordon and the impressive Elliott Anderson resulted in Anderson’s pass finding Longstaff, who slotted the ball home from eight yards; much to the delight of those who hadn’t departed earlier to wet their frustrated whistles on the concourses.
The second half brought much of the same; Newcastle huffing and puffing and Brighton happy to use the clock and the referee’s lack of enthusiasm to question the timewasting tactics to frustrate both players and crowd. One aspect that he was enthusiastic about however was stopping the game at any given opportunity, whether it was for free kicks taken too quickly or from the wrong place, or the numerous occasions Brighton players played dead; lying prostrate on the turf when no particular challenge seemed to warrant such.
The injection of Barnes, Almiron and Joelinton lifted the crowd, but the referee achieved more by refusing penalty appeals for fouls against Gordon and Almiron; with the latter booked for diving.
Gordon did have the ball in the back of Verbruggen’s net, but the referee ruled that Almiron was offside when receiving the ball before releasing it and that summed up the game, which had echoes of last seasons game against Leicester City when we struggled in a dour 0:0 draw but still managed to gain the necessary point to achieve a European spot. That European place still needs filling, and we head into the final two fixtures still in the race.
Speaking to the press after the game Eddie Howe said: "Tough game, we knew it would be, Brighton are always difficult opponents.
"I don't think we hit the heights we needed to win it but, if anyone was going to, I thought it would be us.
Reflecting on conceding the lead after only 18 minutes Howe said "Poor goal (to concede) from us, we did start well, we were progressive and out of nothing they take the lead. I'm just disappointed with our product around the box and there probably weren't enough clear-cut chances.
"Without a doubt the scene, the environment created by the supporters (has helped). Even when Brighton scored, they got right behind the team, but we just couldn't find that winning goal. They have made this place a really difficult place to play. This season the crowd have taken it to another level.
"If you're not going to win the game, the draw for us is really important. I think it could be a valuable point for us. The performance was good. I have no issues with our general play.
"Disappointed with the goal we conceded because Brighton are a tough team to play against and the game became a lot harder from that moment. Credit to the players, though, for how they kept going.
"I was very pleased with our goal. I thought that might give us the momentum needed to go and win the game, but it just didn't happen”.
And reflecting on his decision to substitute off Alexander Isak after 68 minutes he said: "Alexander wasn't feeling very well yesterday. I took the decision to look after him with a three-game week in mind. You could see he wasn't at full tilt today’.
and on the absence of Callum Wilson, he said: "Callum also had a little bit of illness, feeling not great in his body so hopefully we'll have him back.
"Two huge games (remain). The Manchester United game is set up perfectly, that will be massive for us. We'll give everything we can to try and get a positive result. Brentford will take care of itself on the last day.
"As we've said all along, it's probably going to go right until the end."
Roberto De Zerbi was far more chippy when he spoke after they game, saying:
"I'm really pleased with the performance. We could have won the game; we could have lost the game. We played against one of the best teams in terms of physical condition in this moment.”
"It is important the point, especially in this stadium. I think St James' Park is the best stadium in the Premier League. I have twice been in this stadium and both times it was an incredible atmosphere. I don't know if the other games at home they have this atmosphere as well”.
"The level of difficulty of this game was high: we played in our style. with courage and ideas. We are not in the best moment in my time, but we have to play with personality and ideas, and I’m pleased we did that today”.
"We suffered in the last 25 minutes and their four changes made a difference. We changed young players so we suffered too much but we should be proud of the performance”.
"We have two games at home, and we'd like to finish in the top 10. It's the first time we've played in Europe this season. It's not a big, big result but if you consider how many injuries we've had, finishing in the top 10 would be a great result and better than last season".
So; two away games to end the season; next out is Manchester Utd on Wednesday evening followed by Brentford on Sunday afternoon.
Howay the Lads.
And in all honesty Newcastle looked lack-lustre from the start and that was only made worse when they went behind on 18 minutes when, following a right-wing corner was met by Danny Welbeck whose header found Joel Veltman, and he in turn fired home from close range.
Brighton immediately went into defensive mode and with their ability to use the clock to kill any enthusiasm that Newcastle tried to inject; the stop start pace of the game did the magpies no favours.
Time and again Newcastle were thwarted in their attempts to get any momentum into their play and in truth they never really caused any problems defensively as their endeavours broke down through an inability to play a decent final ball and the longer the game went on the more hurried and uncontrolled their play came.
It wasn’t until the final minute of an extended 50-minute half that Newcastle’s passing finally paid dividends when some decent interplay involving Gordon and the impressive Elliott Anderson resulted in Anderson’s pass finding Longstaff, who slotted the ball home from eight yards; much to the delight of those who hadn’t departed earlier to wet their frustrated whistles on the concourses.
The second half brought much of the same; Newcastle huffing and puffing and Brighton happy to use the clock and the referee’s lack of enthusiasm to question the timewasting tactics to frustrate both players and crowd. One aspect that he was enthusiastic about however was stopping the game at any given opportunity, whether it was for free kicks taken too quickly or from the wrong place, or the numerous occasions Brighton players played dead; lying prostrate on the turf when no particular challenge seemed to warrant such.
The injection of Barnes, Almiron and Joelinton lifted the crowd, but the referee achieved more by refusing penalty appeals for fouls against Gordon and Almiron; with the latter booked for diving.
Gordon did have the ball in the back of Verbruggen’s net, but the referee ruled that Almiron was offside when receiving the ball before releasing it and that summed up the game, which had echoes of last seasons game against Leicester City when we struggled in a dour 0:0 draw but still managed to gain the necessary point to achieve a European spot. That European place still needs filling, and we head into the final two fixtures still in the race.
Speaking to the press after the game Eddie Howe said: "Tough game, we knew it would be, Brighton are always difficult opponents.
"I don't think we hit the heights we needed to win it but, if anyone was going to, I thought it would be us.
Reflecting on conceding the lead after only 18 minutes Howe said "Poor goal (to concede) from us, we did start well, we were progressive and out of nothing they take the lead. I'm just disappointed with our product around the box and there probably weren't enough clear-cut chances.
"Without a doubt the scene, the environment created by the supporters (has helped). Even when Brighton scored, they got right behind the team, but we just couldn't find that winning goal. They have made this place a really difficult place to play. This season the crowd have taken it to another level.
"If you're not going to win the game, the draw for us is really important. I think it could be a valuable point for us. The performance was good. I have no issues with our general play.
"Disappointed with the goal we conceded because Brighton are a tough team to play against and the game became a lot harder from that moment. Credit to the players, though, for how they kept going.
"I was very pleased with our goal. I thought that might give us the momentum needed to go and win the game, but it just didn't happen”.
And reflecting on his decision to substitute off Alexander Isak after 68 minutes he said: "Alexander wasn't feeling very well yesterday. I took the decision to look after him with a three-game week in mind. You could see he wasn't at full tilt today’.
and on the absence of Callum Wilson, he said: "Callum also had a little bit of illness, feeling not great in his body so hopefully we'll have him back.
"Two huge games (remain). The Manchester United game is set up perfectly, that will be massive for us. We'll give everything we can to try and get a positive result. Brentford will take care of itself on the last day.
"As we've said all along, it's probably going to go right until the end."
Roberto De Zerbi was far more chippy when he spoke after they game, saying:
"I'm really pleased with the performance. We could have won the game; we could have lost the game. We played against one of the best teams in terms of physical condition in this moment.”
"It is important the point, especially in this stadium. I think St James' Park is the best stadium in the Premier League. I have twice been in this stadium and both times it was an incredible atmosphere. I don't know if the other games at home they have this atmosphere as well”.
"The level of difficulty of this game was high: we played in our style. with courage and ideas. We are not in the best moment in my time, but we have to play with personality and ideas, and I’m pleased we did that today”.
"We suffered in the last 25 minutes and their four changes made a difference. We changed young players so we suffered too much but we should be proud of the performance”.
"We have two games at home, and we'd like to finish in the top 10. It's the first time we've played in Europe this season. It's not a big, big result but if you consider how many injuries we've had, finishing in the top 10 would be a great result and better than last season".
So; two away games to end the season; next out is Manchester Utd on Wednesday evening followed by Brentford on Sunday afternoon.
Howay the Lads.
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