Cup dreams over, again! – Newcastle 0-4 Arsenal.
Posted on October 28th, 2010 | 68 Comments |
The 4-0 scoreline suggests that Newcastle were dominated all the way by an Arsenal side that was slightly stronger than you would expect to see Arsene Wenger field in the Carling Cup under normal circumstances.
The fact is that we weren’t dominated, and despite the harsh scoreline I actually believe there are a fair few positives that can be took from the match last night.
Chris Hughton made nine changes to the side that beat West Ham just four days ago in a move that signalled what most of us already knew anyway – that the derby, and a chance of three points on Sunday are more important to the club than progression to the quarter-final stages of the League Cup.
In came Ryan Taylor, James Perch, Tamas Kadar, Wayne Routledge, Danny Guthrie, Alan Smith, Haris Vuckic, Peter Lovenkrands and Nile Ranger leaving Mike Williamson and Tim Krul as the two sole survivors from the team that played at Upton Park.
Arsenal, who gave the likes of Theo Walcott, Nicklas Bendtner, and Tomas Rosicky starts, started off the stronger of the two sides and could have took the lead through Tomas Rosicky only for Tim Krul to save with his left leg. Seconds later it was Newcastle who could have took the lead through Haris Vuckic who hit the side-netting after some great work from Nile Ranger.
Newcastle carved out the first gilt-edged chance of the night however as Danny Guthrie sent Nile Ranger clear of the Arsenal defence. The striker did the hard work and rounded the goalkeeper only to dally on the ball in front of a near open net. In the end his shot at goal was blocked by Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny. Alan Smith also went close after unleashing a 30-yard screamer that looked in all the way only for the Arsenal ‘keeper to tip it on to the top of the bar.
After a frantic first half-hour or so the game settled down in a more relaxed rhythm. As half-time approached it looked like the score would remain level at 0-0, but a Krul twist of fate was to change that. Theo Walcott’s deep corner was headed goalwards by Nicklas Bendtner. Ryan Taylor was back on the line to head clear, but the ball bounced off the back of Tim Krul’s head and into the back of the net with virtually the last kick of the first-half.
Newcastle could have levelled the score early in the second-half, but James Perch should probably have done better with his header from a Danny Guthrie corner. That cost Newcastle and Arsenal made it 2-0 on 53 minutes with another goal that owed a large chunk of credit to a huge slice of luck.
Both Bendtner and Walcott were stood offside as Johan Djourou headed the ball forward – Bendtner by about 15 yards – but play was allowed to continue as Walcott raced towards goal. Mike Williamson came back to try and challenge the spritely forward but was barged into by Bendtner, who was not only guilty of a foul but also of interfering with play as he challenged for the ball. With Williamson out of the picture, Walcott had the simple task of going clean through and beating the exposed Krul, but it was quite simply a goal which should never have stood.
Newcastle brought on Andy Carroll and Jonas Gutierrez in an attempt to try and salvage the game, but despite controlling parts of the game it was to no avail. Newcastle had their chances to get back in the game but Ryan Taylor, Nile Ranger and Andy Carroll were unable to find the back of the net a number of times.
Instead it was Arsenal who struck again with only a few minutes left on the clock. It was a quick counter-attack goal by all accounts, but it is what Arsenal do best. Cesc Fabregas fed the ball into Nicklas Bendtner who arrowed a shot past Tim Krul and into the top-right hand corner of the net.
Futher gloss was to be added to the Arsenal scoreline by Theo Walcott who raced clear of the Newcastle defence and cooly slotted past Krul to make it 4-0 on the stroke of 90 minutes.
I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the scoreline of 4-0 flattered Arsenal, although they did deserve to win the game in fairness. Newcastle didn’t let their heads drop and created chances throughout the match, which is a positive. Another positive is just how much better the team looked when the likes of Andy Carroll, Jonas Gutierrez and Joey Barton were on the pitch. We looked miles better, and that gives me encouragement for derby day at the weekend.
Howay the lads!
Attendance: 33,157.
Newcastle – Tim Krul, Ryan Taylor, James Perch, Mike Williamson, Tamas Kadar, Wayne Routledge, Danny Guthrie, Alan Smith, Peter Lovenkrands, Haris Vuckic, Nile Ranger.
Subs – Ole Soderberg, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Cheik Tiote, Joey Barton, Jonas Gutierrez, Andy Carroll.
Arsenal – Wojciech Szczesny, Emmanuel Eboue, Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, Johan Djourou, Theo Walcott, Denilson, Tomas Rosicky, Craig Eastmond, Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner.
Subs – Lukasz Fabianski, Bacary Sagna, Cesc Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin, Henri Lansbury, Havard Nordtveit, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Back doon to earth with a stomp in the heed!
Sunday is D-day.