This was horrible and there’s no two ways… | OneFootball

Howay man.

This start to the season has been a bit underwhelming right? There are many caveats though, that still apply.

Villa and Bournemouth are difficult places to visit and draws there are no disaster.

The Liverpool loss was sickening but offset by the ten man fight back. The defence looks strong, the attack affected by the Wissa injury and the undercooked summer caused by the attitude of you-know-who, a spectre that may haunt us for a decent part of this season (if not beyond).

Today was an odd one. After an encouraging midweek run-out against Bradford, maintaining our excellent run of form against this horrible lot would have been a massive boost ahead of the midweek return to Europe.

The game started exactly as it should, with Joelinton booting Bukayo Saka up aheight. Pope was solid to hold Gyokeres header from the subsequent free kick, but what I saw as an initial positive turned into a negative: the ref letting Joe off with what should have been a booking was not a sign of him letting the early stuff go, but an indication that he wasn’t going to bother controlling the game. Bad news when you’re playing a shower of persistent cheats.

This report was very close to being a Nick Pope appreciation piece, as at half time he was clear as United’s man of the match. The sting in this tale makes it difficult but the save from Eze’s early drive was outstanding. He was also well positioned to hold a Saka header, before a bit of a moment followed.

Murphy’s slack backpass created chaos that allowed Gyokeres a run at Pope. There was a coming together and the ref pointed to the spot. Much confabulation followed, with the VAR ultimately helping us out by sending the ref to the monitor, which revealed that Pope had nudged the ball away prior to contact, which had been grossly exaggerated by Gyokeres’ belated swan dive. It was overturned and even with the way the game went, Arsenal are still moaning about this. In a way this was reminiscent of Woltemade’s non-pen at Bournemouth, where a fall more consistent with the contact might have made the case more believable.

There was some pressure to weather after this. Pope again denied Eze with a fine save from a well-struck volley, and Trossard’s thumping shot rebounding off the inside of the post brought memories of Martinelli’s similar effort in the away League Cup semi final leg, which was the pre-cursor to United taking control of the tie. Gordon’s break was consistent with his overall performance, unusually against this lot, as he huffed and puffed with little end product. Pope was on hand again to deny Saka’s tricky near post shot, and you had hope this might all be adding up to be our day.

This was increased massively when we finally made a corner count after multiple attempts. The addition of a set-piece coach seemed to have offered little other than ‘get it in the mixer’ against the Premier League’s best team from dead ball plays, but the first time United chose to mix it up brought rewards. The elusive shorty saw Gordon play a one-two with Tonali, who sent a sweet cross over. Big Nick Woltemade, who apparently is no good in the air despite his 6’6” frame, defeated the odds once again to beat Gabriel in the air and head United into the lead.

Unbeknown to all, this was to lead to the first moment of pure robbery. Gabriel chose to fall over like Arsenal players do at the prospect of Big Nick’s challenge. After these worthless complaints were rightly waved away by the officials, Gabriel took his own revenge from the kick off, with a double swing at Woltemade, elbow first then fist. Conceivable that a VAR review would have seen a red, but it apparently wasn’t warranted, despite Big Nick being so incensed he refused the Brazilian’s proffered handshake. This would end up costing us.

Half time was navigated and the second half brought some negative news with the introduction of William Saliba, who I thought was out for months. Still, there were some positive signs. Woltemade hit the bar when Murphy would have been offside anyway. Joelinton blasted wide with one of them efforts that might have been a great cross or a dangerous shot but ended up being halfway between both and neither.

From there, Arsenal started to take a bit of control. The replacements of Murphy, Woltemade and Gordon with Trippier, Elanga and Osula felt positive in terms if sitting back and countering. Malick Thiaw was delivering a magnificent, assured performance and I think I’m going to be a huge fan, as he snuffed out yet another threat by blocking a Gyokeres effort.

Things officially went wrong with 15 minutes left, as Livramento went to win a header in the middle of the pitch but as he was in mid-air, Saliba made no attempt to jump for the ball and instead cynically ran into Tino and this caused him to land awkwardly. It didn’t look too bad until the dreaded stretcher appeared.

This would be bad in the context of the match, but the impact on the magnificent Tino, previously a victim of an ACL injury, could have longer lasting impacts on the season. The fact the away fans chose to boo his obvious distress just adds to the contempt for this particular shower and made the impact of what followed even harder to swallow.

Mikel Merino had come on in the meantime and of course he scored, flicking in a header at the Leazes end he scored his only Newcastle goal in, equalising with five minutes remaining after United failed to deal with the constant set-piece threat.

The next key moment occurred immediately afterwards, as Elanga bore down on goal and Gabriel denied him via an outstretched arm. Apparently the fact it hit the defender’s shin first, disqualified it from being a penalty, but we can all think of examples of horrendous inconsistency in this field. Arsenal will doubtless whinge about their own denied spot kick as being a leveller.

A draw felt depressing but repeating the Liverpool experience with a loss deep into injury time was an utter sickener. Pope gathered comfortably but his attempt to launch a counter was appalling and Lascelles had to concede a corner in the desperate defence. Gabriel, still on the field despite punches and handballs, headed in the winner and everyone was sick.

This was horrible and there’s no two ways. It feels like we would have won were it not for a slightly weak late rearguard, possibly influenced by Tino’s unfortunate injury.

We didn’t and, despite the early stage of things, 15th place in the table feels alarming. Fixtures absolutely become more manageable in the weeks ahead, but a few things feel essential.

First of all, getting something from the two winnable games prior to the international break, against USG and Nottingham Forest, seems essential to calm the nerves.

Secondly, the return to fitness and assimilation to the team of Yoane Wissa could be vital to moving forward in a way that makes this stuttering start a memory in the same vein of previous false starts.

I’d hope that narrow losses to Liverpool, Barcelona and Arsenal, all among favourites for the Champions League won’t provoke an enormous head loss but the nature of today’s disappointment will inevitably prompt some discontent.

Let’s keep it steady and go again. Bad times don’t last…

Newcastle 1 Arsenal 2 – Sunday 28 September 2025 4.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Woltemade 34

Arsenal:

Merino 84, Gabriel 90+6

Possession was Newcastle 36% Arsenal 64%

Total shots were Newcastle 8 Arsenal 20

Shots on target were Newcastle 3 Arsenal 7

Corners were Newcastle 7 Arsenal 12

Touches in the box Newcastle 17 Arsenal 43

Newcastle team v Arsenal:

Pope, Livramento (Lascelles 77), Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Bruno, Joelinton (Barnes 94), Tonali, Gordon (Trippier 67), Woltemade (Osula 67), Murphy (Elanga 66)

Subs:

Ramsdale, Krafth, Willock, Miley

You can follow the author on BlueSky @bigjimwinsalot.bsky.social

(Newcastle 1 Arsenal 2 – Match ratings and comments on all Newcastle United players – Read HERE)

(Newcastle 1 Arsenal 2 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction – Read HERE)

Newcastle United fixtures (All of the Champions League matches will also be available to watch on TV in the UK):

Wednesday 1st October: Union SG vs Newcastle United (5.45pm)

Sunday 5 October– Newcastle v Forest (2pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 18 October – Brighton v Newcastle (3pm)

Tuesday 21st October: Newcastle United vs Benfica (8pm)

Saturday 25 October – Newcastle v Fulham (3pm)