Chelsea 3-2 Newcastle: Toon make same old mistakes against bang-average Blues
Newcastle missed the chance to move back to seventh in the league as they fell to defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Nicolas Jackson’s early goal against the run of play saw Chelsea take the lead before a brilliant Alexander Isak finish drew us level just before the break. In the second half, Cole Palmer and Mykhailo Mudryk extended Chelsea’s lead to two before Jacob Murphy scored an excellent, but ultimately futile consolation.
Many hoped to see us replicate the tactics that worked so well in our 3-0 win over Wolves last time out, but Eddie Howe opted for a high press, allowing Chelsea to get in behind our wide open midfield when we gave the ball away (which was quite regularly!) and get at our defence. That said, there were so many individual errors across the pitch, so it was bad night collectively against a bang average Chelsea side.
It continues our poor record at Stamford Bridge in the league – with our only win at the ground in Premier League history coming in 2012.
Newcastle came out of the blocks quickly, pressing a makeshift Blues backline who had not played together as a back four before this game.
But a poor clearance by Botman after six minutes gifted the opener to the hosts. After poor communication between Dubravka and the Dutchman, a hooked clearance saw the ball land at the feet of Cole Palmer on the edge of the box. His driven shot was flicked into the far corner by Jackson to stun Eddie Howe’s Mags.
That goal sucked any momentum out of the Toon and the game flipped on its head. Sadly, it's so clear how brittle our confidence is right now, as we suddenly went back in our shells and struggled to get going again. Despite having more of the ball, we offered little going forward and failed to register a shot on target in the opening 30 minutes.
The effectiveness of our high press was also under scrutiny given the ease at which the Blues played round us at times. And the task became more difficult 10 minutes before the break when Gordon was unable to continue following treatment on his knee.
However, five minutes later, Isak got on the end of a clipped pass from Bruno and swept a lovely finish into the far corner past the Chelsea ‘keeper. A moment of real quality that was all too rare from a Newcastle perspective in the opening half, but meant that parity was restored at the break.
We hoped that would give us a boost heading into a huge second half, but it wasn't long until we fell behind again. It was such a sloppy start to the final 45 and Palmer, who had gotten the best of Dan Burn so many times, struck the ball past Dubravka from outside the area in the 57th minute.
It was a tale of black and white backs to the wall for much of the second-half and the Blues could have had a third but for a Burn goalline clearance to deny Sterling. We had one or two promising moments, but any attacks of promise were soon spoilt by our poor final ball.
A stuttering performance from Howe’s side did not ever really seem to get out of second gear throughout the second half and were exposed frequently by Chelsea on the break.
A quick counter provided Chelsea’s third. Botman was turned easily and Mudryk combined with Gallagher before the Ukrainian winger left Schar for dead and rounded Dubravka to slot home.
The second-half was largely uninspired and consistency is becoming a real issue for Howe’s side this term. What happened to the Newcastle that kept Wolves at bay, protected our previously exposed back four, played with heart and penetration in transition? What happened to Howe s***house Mags that make it hard for opposition teams at both ends of the field?
There was a glimmer of hope late on as Murphy rolled a challenge and thumped home ahead of six minutes of added time. But, despite its brilliance, it was a rallying call too late for the Toon who left the capital with nothing and a feeling of back to square one.
The result means Newcastle head into the FA Cup quarter-final away to City having slumped to defeat against an average Chelsea team who are now just one point behind us with a game in hand.
Although we are still three points off a European place, the manner of this particular defeat will do little to calm the voices who have called the season a write-off.
