3 good, 1 bad from Chelsea 0-1 Newcastle
Newcastle United deservedly picked up three crucial away points on Saturday evening by beating Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. Our first win there since 2012 came via an Anthony Gordon goal from an excellent Willock run and square ball.
The lads bled Black and White for the cause and made Chelsea look average by defending resolutely. And with a few huge (and hotly debated) changes to the starting lineup, you couldn’t have asked for more.
Here’s my three good (and one bad) from the game:
Good: Untried trio make the difference
For the first time in 177 games United lined up without one of either Bruno, Tonali or Joelinton in the side, and the midfield three of Woltemade, Willock and Ramsey were hotly debated before kick-off; would it be strong enough, quick enough, and have enough technical quality?
It wasn’t perfect, but they were more than a match for their Chelsea counterparts, nullified them in the main, and were able to create enough chances for us to have more shots on target than them, and to be good enough to grab a deserved goal from a neat counterattack.
Ramsey deserves huge respect for his performance as he took the game by the scruff of the neck and ran the midfield in the absence of Tonali, and it’s been an incredibly encouraging six weeks or so for him as he is starting to look like the player Villa were gutted to lose in the summer.
Willock was industrious and he grabs the assist by unselfishly squaring the ball which was the correct decision (which is something he doesn’t always get right), even though I feel he is still too weak at times. And Woltemade did a job, despite me not wanting to see him play in central midfield ever again; although he did look a tiny bit more robust and won a couple of crucial fouls.
Good: Gordon leading the line like a seasoned striker
Whilst I’m not always convinced by Gordon playing as a striker, he was crucial to the victory on Saturday. He obviously grabbed the winning goal, he had three shots in the game with all three on target, and he covered 11.3km with his running which really put the willies up the Chelsea defence.
Gordon did so well to keep himself onside for the goal too, especially after the Willock run from Tino’s excellent pass, looked offside for a moment in real time. I still hope Gordon will find himself back on the LW after we’ve had the summer to work on our style of play, but between now and the end of season, if he can play like that up front, we’ll grab more positive results in our final eight league games.
Bad: The referee...again
Whilst it hasn’t affected the result, these Premier League ref’s and VARs are bordering on corrupt, and if you think that’s too harsh, then they are certainly inept and spineless.
From the ridiculous image of Paul Tierney being involved in the Chelsea huddle and hugged by Cole Palmer, to the blatant penalty ignored by all the officials for Jame’s clear and obvious pull of Thiaw when he’s not even looking at the ball from the corner, it just screams of collusion.
But that huddle image is so meme-able it’s a joke, if anything had gone Chelsea’s way it would’ve caused a huge media storm, and the fact that he didn’t have the minerals to push his way out of that huddle just shows how subservient these referees are to certain “big six” sides.
Good: Work rate, mentality and cutting out the mistakes
Regardless of any of the above, United showed so many facets that have been missing from the side this season in this performance. The work rate, the gritty mentality, and the cutting out of any sort of mistake has finally seen us win an away game 1-0 at a side that currently sits in the top six.
The amount of first headers won from crosses was imperious and set the foundation for our defensive solidity, we recycled the Chelsea player by passing him on to the right player as required, we kept our shape so, so well, we remained concentrated across the entire game, and protected Ramsdale resolutely.
It’s now four out of five wins on the road, and back-to-back wins in the Premier League as we now sit just six points off 5th with a very decent run of fixtures to come, and it’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings, with these huge results potentially breathing life back into the league season.
Barca next. Keep the faith. HWTL
