Newcastle 0-0 Palace: VAR shambles costs Toon two points at St James' Park
For the second time in a week, awful officiating has cost Newcastle United as we are forced to settle for a point against Crystal Palace at St James' Park.
Tyrick Mitchell put through his own net just five minutes into the second half from a Sven Botman header, but the goal was ruled out as the referee adjudged Joe Willock to have fouled Vicente Guaita in the build up, failing to see that he was clearly pushed into the Spaniard!
After what happened at Anfield, it's another bitter pill to swallow for a Newcastle side who were good value for all three points. We looked tired for large periods of today, but we created enough chances to win the game comfortably and were denied a perfectly good goal.
The result means we end the day 11th on seven points, with one win, one defeat in six games so far this season.
Eddie Howe made two changes, seeing Fabian Schar and Sven Botman return at the back at the expense of Jamaal Lascelles and Dan Burn.
As expected, Bruno Guimaraes and Allan Saint-Maximin weren't risked - and didn't even make the squad - with both likely to return for next Sunday's trip to West Ham as they recover from minor hamstring injuries.
STARTING XI: Pope – Trippier, Schar, Botman, Targett – Willock, Longstaff, Joelinton – Almiron, Isak, Fraser.
SUBS: Darlow, Lascelles, Burn, Lewis, Manquillo, Anderson, Ritchie, Murphy, Wood.
It was a strong start, seeing us enjoy plenty possession and periods of pressure, which featured a huge chance for Alexander Isak, who burst clean through before a slightly heavy touch forced him to chip Guiata; who read it well and stood tall.
Nick Pope was then called into action, making a brilliant stop to palm clear a Mateta snap shot. A period of sloppy passes and lost 50/50s then followed, as Palace came began to win their battles in midfield. It was hard to know if we were feeling the effects of Wednesday night’s gruelling effort at Anfield, but we certainly struggled to maintain the intensity we started with.
An early yellow was limiting Longstaff in midfield, but he very nearly opened the scoring as a glancing header was saved superbly by Guiata. It fell to Joelinton and he looked all set to tap in, but Palace somehow kept it from crossing the line and the ball was cleared after Botman also had a shot blocked in a crazy six-yard box scramble.
Almiron then hit the post from a deflected effort on the edge of the box, with Fraser, Joelinton and Botman also going close after arriving at the back post. We hadn’t played that well and looked a few levels below our best, but we’d had enough chances to be ahead at the break.
A big effort was needed in the second half, but did we have it in our legs or enough quality on the bench to find a way past a Palace side who’ve been good on the road so far this season? As it turns out, we did, but poor refereeing would let us down once again.
It wasn't pretty in the second half and we looked at risk of being caught on the counter at times, but it's a disgrace - yet again - that this 51st minute own goal from Mitchell didn't stand, with replays showing that Willock was shoved into Guiata, not the other way around!
We had other chances in the second half, as Almiron dragged one effort wide, Murphy saw a shot well blocked and Willock had two openings, having one low strike saved by Guiata before slicing wide after a ball dropped kindly in the six-yard box.
At the other end, Nick Pope put in another quality display, stepping up when needed to turn Edouard's well hit shot around the post.
Elliot Anderson made an impact off the bench and almost bagged an assist after his drilled effort across the box was almost turned into his own net by Joachim Andersen.
We ran out of steam in the end and looked inevitably tired in midfield - Longstaff, Joelinton and Willock have all played 180 minutes in the space of a few days - with missed chances and awful officiating costing us in this one.
Hugely frustrating to be held at home in a game we deserved to win, however it feels like this side will be racking up the victories soon enough once Bruno Guimaraes, Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson are back in the side.
As for individual performances, Pope showed his worth once again with two fine saves, Schar and Botman were good value for their clean sheet, Trippier dealt with Zaha superbly, Longstaff did well after an early yellow card and Joelinton was a typically disruptive presence.
Isak will be bemoaning that big chance he missed early in the game but showed moments of class in an otherwise quiet display from our £58m man. Almiron was a livewire in moments, but his reluctance to use his right foot and poor final product let us down at times.
Another tough one to take, but another big effort and promising display when you consider how many tired legs we had in that starting 11. Palace are no mugs, yet, on the balance of play, we'd have beaten them nine times out of 10. Today just wasn't our day.
Next up, a trip to the capital next weekend as we face West Ham at the London Stadium.
