3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Newcastle 1 Fulham 2

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The Mag

·2 février 2025

3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Newcastle 1 Fulham 2

Wednesday night’s match ended Newcastle 1 Fulham 2.

Ahead of each match we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the game.

Vidéos OneFootball

Plenty to talk about after this one…

On this occasion it is ‘Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey…’:

POSITIVES

If it wasn’t for that darn woodwork

The woodwork stopped two belters from Sandro and Alex from registering. Fine margins.

If they’d gone in, I might have had a few more positives to wax lyrical about.

It could have been worse

A 2-1 reverse will do me on Wednesday, but that’s small comfort, when looking back across our last two home games.

We were wide open at times and both Smith Rowe and Jimenez should have done more to expose midfield sloppiness and defensive frailties, before Jimenez eventually equalised, then Muniz toepoked the visitors in front.

Keep the faith

For the second time in three seasons, we play a second leg League Cup semi-final at SJP having won the first leg away from home, this coming Wednesday.

We are still top six in the league, no matter other results this weekend (and could still be in fifth come Monday evening).

After Arsenal, we travel to a third tier outfit in the FA Cup. Win there and we’ve made the last 16 of that competition.

Oh, and Miggy has eventually left the building. Hopefully, Lloyd Kelly will be on his way this week as well.

NEGATIVES

Didn’t we used to beat the likes of Fulham?

Two poor performances home and away against the Cottagers this season and two defeats.

In the previous eight encounters against the side from SW6, we’d won six and drawn the other two.

It might be that the likes of Fulham are in the top half of the Premier League and sitting better placed than the likes of Man United and Spurs, but we should still be outfoxing teams that sit beneath us in the league, whoever they are and whatever their pedigree.

Yesterday was lacklustre and watching from high up in Level 7, the signs were evident and the outcome all too predictable, akin to watching a car crash unfolding in slow motion.

Errors, indecision and a poor keeper

When Sandro Tonali is ineffective, the team is.

Our Italian maestro was probably the only player who could have held his head high after the 4-1 reverse to Bournemouth. Not so yesterday. Some wayward passes and caught in possession too much for liking.

Now, I’m not just singling our man from Milan out for criticism, merely pointing out that if he isn’t firing on all cylinders, it just maybe isn’t going to be our day.

There were others.

What about Burn and Schar, two of our most reliable and dependable players these past few seasons? They were sluggish and indecisive yesterday. I thought Guimaraes and Joelinton were also both well under par.

After coming on, Joe Willock missed what looked like an absolute sitter, but I need to ask why he was being fed such a delicious ball in such a great position by Alexander Isak? Surely a case for role reversal if there ever was one?

I’ll not dig up Jacob Murphy again, not for fear of reprisal in the comments section, at least he scored yesterday and had we defended better, that might have been the winning goal.

It’s the keeper who worries me the most. Yet again, our defensive frailties are being magnified by having someone between the sticks whose positioning is awful, whose command of his box is lacking and who is always going to concede when those in front of him are off the pace. We need Nick Pope back pronto.

It’s the bench isn’t it?

When it’s clear that Eddie isn’t getting a tune out of the starting eleven, he needs to change it, but it’s abundantly clear that he either won’t (because he’s inherently obstinate) or can’t (because he hasn’t the personnel).

What infuriates me is that Eddie can’t have it both ways.

If Lewis Miley, Will Osula and Lloyd Kelly aren’t good enough to win us the game when it’s all square, what is the point of them coming on with less than three minutes to go after we have fallen behind?

If anything, that injection of fresh legs so late, cost both momentum and crucial seconds in our desperate search for an equaliser.

Newcastle 1 Fulham 2 – Saturday 1 February 2025 3pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Murphy 36

Fulham:

Jimenez 61, Muniz 82

Possession was Newcastle 47% Fulham 53%

Total shots were Newcastle 11 Fulham 15

Shots on target were Newcastle 4 Fulham 4

Corners were Newcastle 4 Fulham 7

Touches in the box Newcastle 32 Fulham 30