Newcastle United just about kept their season on the rails with a late winner at home to West Ham on Saturday.
With the Magpies down in 10th place pre-kick off, it felt imperative that they found a way to win to keep their hopes of European qualification alive. For much of the afternoon though, they were punished by their ruthless opponents as West Ham opened up a 3-1 lead.
The afternoon started well for Eddie Howe’s men as Alexander Isak was able to open the scoring after just six minutes. A penalty awarded for a clumsy foul from West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal on Anthony Gordon survived a VAR check for offside and that gave the Swedish international the perfect opportunity to get his side up and running.
That looked like being the only bright spot for Newcastle as the afternoon spiralled out of control. Jamaal Lascelles was an early loss to injury, with a reorganised backline culpable for Michail Antonio’s equaliser.
Goals from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen extended the Hammers’ advantage to 3-1 before more bad luck struck for Howe and his team. Injuries to Tino Livramento and Miguel Almiron meant the day was heading towards an absolute disaster before a crazy final 20 minutes.
A second penalty, earned by Gordon again, saw Isak convert against substitute goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski before the Swede turned provider for another substitute, Harvey Barnes, who slotted beyond the veteran stopper.
There was still time for the omnipresent Gordon to hold up a long ball forward and find the onrushing Barnes, who sidestepped Kalvin Phillips before curling home the winner to spark pandemonium for the majority of St James’ Park.
There was still time for Gordon to receive a second yellow card which will rule him out of Tuesday’s match with Everton. The player of the match left the field to a standing ovation as he played a huge part in helping his side pull this one out of the fire with three assists.
Howe gets his substitutions right…eventually
Eddie Howe and his coaching team were forced into 3 of their 5 allotted changes, but it is always satisfying for a manager when a substitute wins the game.
Many onlookers were surprised by Howe’s decision to bring on Emil Krafth for the stricken Jamal Lascelles, as this meant that the entire back four moved from their starting position.
Whilst Schar moving to right centre half and Dan Burn to left centre half (from left back) are arguably more natural positions, Tino Livramento switching to left back to accommodate the Swedish International seemed unusual. Would Lewis Hall have been a better option?
Ultimately, Krafth was withdrawn 40 minutes later for Hall who made a big difference as Newcastle chased the game. It is uncertain if Krafth’s withdrawal was injury-related but there was undoubtedly a better balance with the left-footed Hall at left-back, whilst Jacob Murphy performed admirably out of position at right-back.
Hall was introduced as a triple change along with Elliott Anderson and Miguel Almiron. However, despite the Paraguayan offering some bright moments, his afternoon ended just 10 minutes later due to injury as matchwinner Harvey Barnes was introduced.
Only Howe knows at what stage (if at all) Barnes would have been introduced were it not for Almiron’s misfortune!
Kalvin Phillips under-fire again
England International Phillips has not had the best of times since moving to West Ham. It is perhaps not surprising, given his paucity of appearances for Manchester City over the last two seasons.
West Ham manager David Moyes has attempted to take him out of the firing line by using him as a substitute recently but the statistics will show Phillips was introduced with his side leading 3-1, only to go on to lose 4-3.
The penalty the former Leeds man conceded is somewhat unlucky – Anthony Gordon appears from behind him midway through a clearance – but the way he sold himself for Barnes’ winner will be more of a concern to both Moyes and England manager Gareth Southgate. Both will be hoping this latest setback does not affect Phillips’ confidence too much.
Nick Pope’s return vital for run in
Newcastle’s injury problems all season have been well documented, with at least another three being added to the list from this game and a few others clearly nursing strains. Fans would likely point to Joelinton as being the biggest miss, with surgery ending his season back in January.
When you consider how strong Newcastle’s defence was for much of last season, it’s clear to see the importance of Nick Pope to this particular squad. Martin Dubravka has performed admirably at times but has also made several mistakes leading directly to goals.
It could be argued he could have done better with Kudus’ strike here, whilst a late misjudge of a cross was fortunate not to end in a goal for Tomas Soucek.
You only have to look at the results and performances since Pope’s injury on December 2nd to see the difference he can make and Howe will be hopeful of him returning next month.
West Ham will feel hard done to by the officials
Conceding two penalties will annoy any manager but West Ham fans will feel aggrieved to see both decisions go against their team.
For the first penalty, a three-minute VAR check followed as the officials at Stockley Park tried to determine if Anthony Gordon was offside in the build-up. A long debate over whether Fabian Schar had made a deliberate play at the ball was followed by uncertainty over whether Mavropanos’ clearance was a deliberate action. With neither case proven, the on-field decision was allowed to stand.
The second penalty wasn’t given on field and there seemed enough doubt to say this wasn’t a clear and obvious error, but another lengthy check went in favour of the home side.
In between those decisions, Mohammed Kudus went on a lung-busting run past most of the Newcastle defence only to fall to the ground under challenge from Dan Burn.
The officials deemed this to be shoulder-to-shoulder, which saved Burn from a certain red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. On another day, Moyes will feel this might have been seen differently.