Newcastle United 1 Crystal Palace 2
Steve Bruce was perhaps tempting fate when he used his column in the matchday programme to discuss the “green shoots” of recovery he had recently detected at St James’ Park.
Admittedly Newcastle do appear to have improved quite considerably in the past week but they were starting from a low base. Accordingly Bruce’s defence still found a Crystal Palace side expertly tutored in the art of counterattacking by Roy Hodgson far too streetwise at this rather nervy stage of their transition from a deep sitting back five to a slightly higher pressing back four.
Newcastle’s new-look diamond formation served Bruce’s players well as they ended an 11-match winless run at Everton last Saturday and it certainly seemed to suit them here as they began by passing and moving with almost unprecedented fluency. Apparently caught cold, Palace appeared a little dazzled by this home renaissance and initially struggled to recover after falling behind in the second minute.
A sumptuous right-footed half-volley unleashed from outside the area by Jonjo Shelvey, it was a goal emblematic of Bruce’s bold new attacking blueprint. Created by a combination of Ryan Fraser’s pass, Miguel Almirón’s flick over a defender and Callum Wilson’s cushioned header into Shelvey’s path, it was sufficient to, momentarily, leave the most sceptical Newcastle fan dreaming of a bright new sunrise.
There have been far too many false dawns on Tyneside in recent years and a reminder Newcastle’s confidence and defence remain horribly fragile came as reality intruded and Palace scored two goals in swift succession.
First Jairo Riedewald pounced on a loose ball about 25 yards out and lashed an unstoppable left-foot shot goalwards. Assisted by a slight deflection off Ciaran Clark, the ball flew into the roof of the net, leaving a wrongfooted Karl Darlow helpless.
Newcastle have long been vulnerable to set pieces and a corner, delivered impeccably by Eberechi Eze, resulted in Gary Cahill thoroughly deflating their early optimism by powering a header beyond Darlow. Cahill’s supposed marker, Fabian Schär will not care to see replays highlighting the ease with which the scorer lost him.
Shortly afterwards Palace gleefully dissected Bruce’s backline on the counterattack and Wilfried Zaha had the ball in the back of the net only to see what he had hoped would be goal number three ruled out for an offside.
Creditably, Newcastle refused to fold and, highlighting a few visiting defensive deficiencies, mustered a few more attacking moments of their own. Almirón hit the bar while Fraser, Schär and Wilson – who was playing very cleverly – all came extremely close to scoring.
Yet if Bruce was heartened by this response he must also have been painfully aware of his team’s susceptibility to coming undone on the break.
Big on wind chill and icy sleet, this bitterest and rawest of north-east February nights was not for the faint-hearted and the second half promised a significant test of Newcastle’s resolve and sometimes shaky looking self-belief.
Bruce was unable to unleash Joe Willock from the bench as the midfielder, on loan from Arsenal, made the switch from north London too late for inclusion in the matchday squad.
Allan Saint-Maximin was on the home bench though and the winger who is still pacing his return following two months sidelined by Covid-19 but is as important as Zaha and Eze are to Hodgson began warming up early in the second period.
The latter pair proved instrumental in Palace’s penchant for counterattacking with real rapidity from Newcastle corners and their hosts presumably breathed a slight sigh of relief when an apparent hamstring injury necessitated Zaha’s replacement by Newcastle old boy Andros Townsend.
Next to strip off was Saint-Maximin, with the Frenchman replacing Jeff Hendrick as his side attempted to regain the initiative.
Almost immediately, Saint-Maximin petrified Palace by conjuring a chance for Wilson who would surely have scored had it not been for a wonderful tackle from Nathaniel Clyne.
A rather less impressive -way too high – challenge from Luke Milivojevic on the same striker resulted in a yellow card for the Palace midfielder, who was arguably slightly fortunate it had not been a red.
By the end Bruce had thrown on every available forward – to no avail. - Guardian
