3 good, 1 bad from Newcastle's 3-2 win over West Brom
Newcastle United secured passage to the 3rd round of the Carabao Cup by beating West Bromwich Albion 3-2 on Wednesday night in Matthias Jaissle’s first win as Head Coach.
In a positive but frustrating performance, United eventually got the job done in normal time with Harvey Barnes and Amar Dedic the standout performers.
Newcastle’s goals came via Bazoumana Toure’s first for the club and a Harvey Barnes brace with Issac Price bagging a brace for the Baggies.
Here’s my three good and one bad from the game:
Good: Jaissle’s proactive change
Putting aside the six changes to the starting lineup (which perhaps suggests a decent squad depth many weren’t sure we had this season) it was Jaissle’s proactive half time sub, bringing on Barnes for Toure, which really changed the game.
Despite Toure scoring (which is a huge moment for him and will hopefully spur him on), United looked vulnerable down the left-hand side and West Brom were exploiting it, so rather than hang about, Jaissle acted and replaced the goalscorer with Barnes in a move which shored up that side and gave us a more potent attacking threat too.
The move highlighted Jaissle’s bravery and decisiveness to remove the lad who scored and those are the sort of calls I’m delighted to see the manager make early in his career with us as we will need more of them to be successful this season.
Good: Dedic and Barnes at the double
After a good start, which saw Newcastle press well, look the better team, and create a couple of half-chances, it came as a shock when Price caught Ewan Jaouen out with a clever freekick which meant that we needed to respond and come from behind to win, something we really struggled with last season.
It required someone to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and Amar Dedic seemed like a man possessed in the achieving of that goal. Playing with Trippier-like intelligence, the Bosnian bombed on and created two goals on the night with excellent pinpoint crosses: one setting up Toure and the other swept home by a gleeful Barnes.
Barnes had, at times, looked like our only goalscoring threat throughout preseason and he has continued that form into the season proper. He worked hard against Liverpool and deserved a rest, but he completely changed the attacking threat of the side when he came on, and without him it may’ve been a different result on the night such was the surprising threat West Brom offered.
Bad: Big Nick’s struggling
Whilst it pains me to write this as I’m such a huge fan of his, Nick Woltemade looked lost on the night. His touch was okay in tight spaces, but he was never a goalscoring threat, and that cannot be acceptable for a Premier League striker.
His confidence must have taken a massive battering over the last six months or so with being played out of position in midfield and having a disastrous World Cup for Germany, but we need him to offer more considering he’s our record signing and we have £69million tied up in him.
To be fair to Big Nick, he never gets any calls from the ref, and perhaps the arrival of Nico Gonzalez will provide him with a player who can pick him out with better quality passes, but he just looks a million miles away from the player who we signed and started so well for us last season.
Good: Start signing paraded on the pitch
In a throwback moment, Nico Gonzalez was paraded on the pitch prior to kick-off after United completed his signing for £50million or so, in what could be a transformational signing for the club.
Manchester City fans seem genuinely annoyed that he’s been sold and that’s always a good sign that you’ve picked up a good player. He has the potential to be someone who can anchor the midfield for the next five years and there are echoes of the Bruno transfer about it with the age profile and the quality, and that move worked out well for us despite the way it ended.
The signing also suggests that whatever Newcastle 2.0 is, it’s being sold well to players by the executive team. After the way things have been at times this summer with big players sold and questions around the direction of the club (and perhaps with one or two more still to arrive between now and the end of the window), mixed with the encouraging performances Jaissle has coached in his first two games, things may just be looking up for us this season.
Spurs next. Keep the faith. HWTL
