Everton 0-1 Newcastle – Toffee’s come unstuck at Goodison.
Posted on September 18th, 2010 | 283 Comments |
The reality is that Newcastle deserved their win despite Everton looking below-par. They deserved to take the three points back to Tyneside this evening and the 2,500 travelling fans deserved to have something to cheer about for their efforts – Once again they were magnificent.
Much debate was had before the match regarding the team selection and whether or not Chris Hughton would ring a few changes. It’s his job to make tough decisions, and that is what he did today by handing both Cheick Tiote and Hatem Ben Arfa their full debuts in the black and white stripes at the expense of Alan Smith and Jonas Gutierrez. It was a decision that ultimately paid dividends.
Newcastle were by far the better team in the first half and could have gone a goal up inside 10 minutes had Jose Enrique’s cross found the head of anyone except Wayne Routledge who put his header wide of the target.
Everton had a brief attacking moment and maybe could have taken the lead had Phil Jagielka got his header on target, but ultimately it was still Newcastle who held on to the ascendancy. Joey Barton forced a save from Tim Howard as he shot a free-kick towards the top right corner of the goal, and Howard was called into action again as he was forced to tip Kevin Nolan’s deflected cross over the crossbar.
Then came the low point of the afternoon for Newcastle as Steve Harper fell on his shoulder just after the half-hour mark. To me it looked like a dislocated shoulder, and for a goalkeeper that can be a hell of an injury. Tim Krul now looks set to recieve an extended run in the first team whilst there could now be the possibility of Fraser Forster being recalled prematurely from his loan spell at Celtic.
This being Newcastle, that low point turned into a high point on the stroke of half-time as Hatem Ben Arfa produced one of those moments of magic that has kept us talking all summer long. Ben Arfa picked the ball up 25-yards from goal and jinked past John Heitinga before unleashing an unstoppable shot that flew past Tim Howard and into the back of the Everton net. 1-0 to Newcastle at half-time.
The home side made a couple of changes at half-time as they looked to assert themselves on the game. It worked aswell as Everton turned the screw for a brief period at the start of the second-half with Tim Krul saving from Yakubu and Leon Osman skewing way wide from only 8-yards out.
Newcastle continued to retain the ball well, with both debutants looking mightily impressive throughout. On this evidence it will be hard for any player to force them out of the team. Cheick Tiote looked like a seasoned Premier League player and displayed some great tackling ability, some good touches, a bit of vision, an eye for a shot and a physical presence and athleticism I personally haven’t seen at Newcastle for a long time. And lets not forget Ben Arfa who continued to dazzle on his ful debut. In fact at one point I counted that he had beaten six players whilst keeping the ball under his full control.
Newcastle had claims for a stonewall penalty turned down 13 minutes from time as Seamus Coleman clattered straight through the back of Kevin Nolan and took him out as he was about to shoot after being put clean through on goal. A harsh decision on Newcastle, and ultimately the replays proved it was the wrong one.
Everton huffed and puffed towards the final whistle and despite going close twice in injury time through Yakubu and Fellaini, they never really looked like they were going to get back in the game and it finished 1-0 to the away side.
All in all a very impressive performance, even if it is tinged with a hint of sadness surrounding the injury to Steve Harper. I don’t remember a player in black and white having a bad game to be honest, but there is still a hell of a long way to go until we are safe from relegation. This result makes up for Blackpool last weekend, and Newcastle will now have to try and build on this result next Sunday against Stoke. Oh and one more thing………
The H-Bomb has landed!
Everton – Tim Howard, Tony Hibbert, John Heitinga, Sylvain Diston, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines, Mikel Arteta, Leon Osman, Marouane Fellaini, Stephen Pienaar, Jermaine Beckford.
Subs – Jan Mucha, Phil Neville, Seamus Coleman, Magaye Gueye, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Yakubu, Barklay.
Newcastle – Steve Harper, James Perch, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Wayne Routledge, Cheick Tiote, Joey Barton, Hatem Ben Arfa, Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll.
Subs – Tim Krul, Ryan Taylor, Sol Campbell, Alan Smith, Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands.
Attendance – 38,019.
Referee – Andre Marriner.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Over the Moon-Great result-Ben Arfa-GOD !!