Newcastle away

Lukerz

The team spirit of this side, ridiculous

alderz

We put four away today, came from behind twice, and Garth Crooks didn't have a single player in his team of the week.

IronHerb

Then we know we're going in he right direction.

chicagohammer

To be fair, the second half was outstanding but I also enjoyed the first half, nerve racking at times and very much a supporting West Ham experience with especially Dawson being turned inside out, but it was nonetheless an enjoyable watch

Oh…and a really great outcome

Yeoldhammer

This guy went off on one (Note: sensitive language)

whupathman

he was very complementary about us

Kuchinghammer

No-one's mentioned Soucek as a penalty taker. He'd be my choice...or maybe Coufal to terrify their keeper with a death stare

Bazshuayi

Yeoldhammer said:

This guy went off on one (Note: sensitive language)

He was also pretty accurate that it could've been '5 or 6' (easily)

chicagohammer

You may recall that my wife’s family are staunch Sunderland - all good here :-)

Lukerz

Not sure enough was made about the quality of the pass to release Benrahma for the 4th. Brilliant from Bowen. First time, on his right foot.

OldCastleSwift

Lukerz said:

Not sure enough was made about the quality of the pass to release Benrahma for the 4th. Brilliant from Bowen. First time, on his right foot.

Heavily involved in the 2nd, too. Thought he had a great game. If he'd buried that chance in the first half it would be an early contender for goal of the month.

alderz

OldCastleSwift said:

Lukerz said:

Not sure enough was made about the quality of the pass to release Benrahma for the 4th. Brilliant from Bowen. First time, on his right foot.

Heavily involved in the 2nd, too. Thought he had a great game. If he'd buried that chance in the first half it would be an early contender for goal of the month.

I’m surprised he isn’t in the penalty list yknow

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

OldCastleSwift said:

Lukerz said:

Not sure enough was made about the quality of the pass to release Benrahma for the 4th. Brilliant from Bowen. First time, on his right foot.

Heavily involved in the 2nd, too. Thought he had a great game. If he'd buried that chance in the first half it would be an early contender for goal of the month.

I’m surprised he isn’t in the penalty list yknow

I'm not. I actually think finishing is one of his weakest attributes.

Slacker

Yeoldhammer said:

This guy went off on one (Note: sensitive language)

Oh thanks for posting. That really had me in tears of laughter this morning. I thought he was going to burst at one point.
Overweight middle aged bloke with all that angst, he’s not going to make old bones is he?

OutcastLondoner

The thing with penalties is I just want us to stop chopping and changing. I think Rice should’ve never stopped taking them. He scored one and then hit the post. An inch the other way and we would’ve been calling it the perfect penalty.

I’m not sure Antonio is the right person with his finishing so whoever takes it next should stick to it. I could see it being Soucek but also wonder if the way he approaches the ball with those long legs is a bit easier for a keeper to read

alderz

I've just looked at the options people have suggested for penalties on Transfermarkt.

1. Aaron Cresswell, taken one penalty in his career, for Tranmere 10 years ago, and missed.
2. Declan Rice & Michail Antonio, both taken two each, both scored one and missed one.
3. Jarrod Bowen has taken 6 for Hull, scored 4 and missed 2 (67% conversion rate).
4. Tomas Soucek has taken 13 and scored 10 of them (77%).
5. Said Benrahma has taken 6 (4 for Brentford, 2 for LB Châteauroux) and scored them all.

So, if Noble isn't on the pitch, it should go Benrahma, Soucek, Bowen.

(And, just because it's great to see, Noble has taken 42 and scored 38 (90% success)

OldCastleSwift

Pick one and stick with it. Fairly sure Soucek took them for Prague so why not let him have them if Rice doesn't fancy it (which either he doesn't, or he's too easily convinced to give them up (Lingard and now Antonio).

Lukerz

Rice should be on pens (can’t believe he came off them purely for hitting the post) but I think if we really want to change then Bowen should be on them. I thought he was actually MOTM yesterday, followed by Benrahma. He was pulling the strings constantly. Gets two semi-assists, that mazy run for the 1v1 in the first half, nice bits of play & spreading the ball about in the final third. Really good player. Benny will get the accolades because of the goal, assist & his bit of play in the first goal, but I didn’t think there was much between them.

Lukerz

Also, the pen. I can’t see how it’s not a pen. I can’t see Murphy conclusively get the ball. It looks like at best he makes contact with some of the ball & Fornals foot at the same time. To me it looks like a trip as Fornals takes the ball away from him.

alderz

Lukerz said:

Also, the pen. I can’t see how it’s not a pen. I can’t see Murphy conclusively get the ball. It looks like at best he makes contact with some of the ball & Fornals foot at the same time. To me it looks like a trip as Fornals takes the ball away from him.

I think it's one of those were VAR is never overturning it in either direction. If Atkinson doesn't give it VAR is never ever saying he made a mistake. For me personally, I think it looked like Murphy got the ball and played it into Fornals.

yoyo

I wouldn't have been happy if the penalty had been awarded against us but hey-ho, it wasn't

Lukerz

I agree it’s soft, but I can’t see contact made on the ball on any angle, I think Fornals foot diverts the ball away as he tackles

Yeoldhammer

Would complain if that pen was given to another team but seeing some of the decisions last year i am not in the least surprised it was given.

ASLEFshrugged

Lukerz said:

Rice should be on pens

Agree with alderz, Benrahma 6 out of 6 or Soucek 10 out of 13 including against Sevilla in the Europa League and Inter Milan in the Champions League.

Ace of Clubs

It was a soft penalty but you must remember we are a top 6 club now.

Lukerz

Saint-Maxim - what potential. Needs to add consistency to his game but if he could play like that 6/10 games, he’d be some player.

ASLEFshrugged

Lukerz said:

Saint-Maxim - what potential. Needs to add consistency to his game but if he could play like that 6/10 games, he’d be some player.

His biggest problem is injuries, he's been out 197 days and missed 30 out of 89 matches plus one match "resting" in two seasons at Newcastle

BubblesNeverDies

Watching the highlights again and what a goal Antonio's was.
From a Newcastle attack, Soucek clears the ball from inside the penalty area, Antonio beats off Shelvey and Fernandez to the high ball and passes to Bowen and then gets on his bike.
He's still 15 metres behind when the ball from Bowen to Benny lands and yet makes that up and in fact is about 7 metres ahead when Benny passes to him.
Brilliant goal!

alderz

Lukerz said:

Saint-Maxim - what potential. Needs to add consistency to his game but if he could play like that 6/10 games, he’d be some player.

The guy is terrifying to play against. He can run by anybody in the game, he just doesn't know what to do with it after that regularly enough.

Hamstew

Not enough is being made of Cresswell volleying the ball at a Newcastle player after our pen is awarded imo. Incredible scenes.