Qarabag vs Newcastle United: A 90-Minute Holiday.
As I said to my wife last night, it’s a privilege to watch a game of football that Newcastle United are involved in and not be living on your nerves for 90 minutes.
I can’t remember the last time a game was so relaxing and enjoyable. Yes, Qarabag were abject, but we were pretty good too.
Anthony Gordon up top gets a huge amount of plaudits, and rightly so for his four-goal haul, but I think the game was won behind him. The use of the ball from our back line was far better than it has been recently.
Tonali and Willock screened the space in front of the back four brilliantly, limiting the transition threat, while Woltemade was calm and constantly looking to keep our attacking play potent.
I have to say that I think Lewis Hall is my player of the season so far.
There is very little that the lad can’t do: bombing down the line, whipping in fearsome deliveries, dancing round opposition like they aren’t there, and filling in central midfield roles which free up either (or both) of the deeper-lying midfielders to get forward.
If he’s not the starting left-back for England at the World Cup, then Tuchel needs to give his head a shake. Genuinely one of the great talents in the Premier League right now and I hope he stays with us for many, many years to come.
The way Qarabag set up in the first half was suicidal. They had their front lads press high, with no one following up, which made it oh so easy for us to play through them. Once we had broken their lines — almost always through the middle — the centre-backs had to step up to meet the marauding Toon player, leaving a chasm through which to find Gordon.
In The Mag player ratings, I saw Davey Hat Trick give Gordon a 10, and I would agree with that if he had scored the six that his chances in that first 45 had warranted. You honestly couldn’t have argued if we had gone in at half-time 8–0 up. He was a fantastic 9.5 for me. If he can make the most of more of the chances he gets, he really could be the answer through the middle. And he looks far more comfortable with Woltemade close by. Gordon really struggles when he is isolated against big defenders; give those defenders one more thing to think about, and Gordon takes advantage.
The second half was a stroll.
Newcastle United kept the ball well and limited their transition threat after Qarabag finally made the decision to sit in. I was honestly a little relieved when they put 10 men behind the ball. Towards the end of that first half the Qarabag defending had the energy of David Brent dancing — amusing for a moment, but ultimately uncomfortable to watch. I’m still not entirely sure how their goal snuck past Pope, and we should have had more in the second half, with Osula not quite getting his feet right after Burn’s free header was saved. On a night like that, picking holes feels unnecessary.
In conclusion, I’m really enjoying this new system. It suits the players we have at our disposal, and we appear to be getting an extra few percent from performances that had been missing for decent chunks of the season. The tweak — pushing Gordon centrally with Woltemade close, and using Hall almost as an auxiliary midfielder in possession — has given us control and quite a bit more threat. It’ll be good to see big Joe come back in and I think Tino will thrive when he returns as well.
All in all, a class night which makes it three away wins in a week. London hoodoo? Gone. Villa Park? Conquered. A 5,000-mile round trip, midweek, between Aston Villa and Manchester City? Managed without fuss. The team is growing nicely.
A fantastic week and it was heartwarming to see all those Toon fans who had made the trip getting the result their insane support deserved. Hats off to you lads and lasses.