A game of two halves (again): Newcastle United 2-1 Fulham (report/highlights)
Posted on August 28th, 2011 | 40 Comments |
Looking on the positive side though, Best almost fashioned a chance for himself in the eighth minute, however possible overelaboration led to the chance fizzling out ion the end. As the game settled down a little though, it was Fulham who were seizing most of the attacking initiative, and indeed they started to ‘boss’ a somewhat disjointed Magpies, who just seemed chasing the ball en-masse without much of a coherent system. It seemed as if the likes of Nolan and Barton were missed to organise the Magpies’ midfield as Martin Jol’s Cottagers were certainly more organised and well spaced at this stage, it was early days though. Howay Captain Colo!
Half an hour or so passed though and it still wasn’t too good, with Fulham still easily having the Lion’s share of possession and making the better passing moves. It was much the same with the minnows of Scunthorpe in the League Cup the other evening though, so there was still hope.
Tiote copped a nasty left at the half hour point and had to leave the pitch for a while, but if anything it gave Newcastle a little respite. A set piece shortly after that saw Ryan Taylor unable to capture the magic of earlier efforts, and he fired straight into the wall this time. apart from this, Fulham’s box still continued to be something of a wasteland in terms of meaningful Magpie action.
However, step by step, they did make a start on working their way back into the game, though it wasn’t until the half time whistle approached until there were any real signs of life from Newcastle, when they at last managed to keep getting the ball in the danger area on a fairly regular basis, with a couple of good efforts from Cabaye and formally derided man of the moment, Ryan Taylor. The first was a curling shot from Cabaye which was palmed off well by Schwarzer in the Fulham goal, and the second was a chest and volley from Taylor which was just a little wide. Obertan was also using his pace to good effect generally too. It was only in these last few minutes that anything worth writing about, Newcastle wise, happened. So while it was 0-0 at the break, this passage of the game at least gave Newcastle some hope for the second half, and at least Fulham failed to score too.
Half time: Newcastle United 0-0 Fulham.
Fulham kicked off the second half. Though Newcastle seemed to retain the ball much better than previously, they were being forced back. However their first forward thrust saw Best lacking the prevarication he had in his earlier chance, taking the opportunity to shoot and score an excellent goal against the run of play in the 47th minute. Initially, it was Cabaye who struck a very powerful 30 yardish volley, forcing an excellent palmed save from Fulham’s Mark Shwarzer, parried onto the bar, but like a good striker, Best was on hand for ‘sloppy seconds’ just three yards or so from the goal line, and slotted it home. Newcastle United 1-0 Fulham.
At the other end, a good save from Krul in the 55th minute helped us to keep our advantage. The shot was at him but Krul showed good instinct to stop it. Newcastle were better overall, and when Fulham pressed back, moves usually ended with American striker, Michael Dempsey balooning the ball into the proverbial ‘row z’ until Magpie’s old boy, Damien Duff, hit a promising effort into the side netting in the 64th minute
Leon Best then profited once again from another volley, not a rebound from Cabaye this time but into the danger area by Demba Ba, with Best taking full advantage to slot the ball nicely into the back of the net for a second time to silence his doubters. Newcastle United 2-0 Fulham.
On the other side, Fulham had a cracking effort from a set piece in the 71st minute which was once again well dealt with by Krul. He also fended off another good effort from the Cottagers a few minutes later in what was a very good game overall for the Flying Dutchman.
Any hope Leon Best had of a hat-trick were then scuppered when he was pulled off by Pardew to give the very promising young Slovenian, Haris Vuckic, another run about for the last quarter hour. However he was only to be taken off a few minutes later woth some kind of hand injury, giving a some unexpected game time for Alan Smith in Pardew’s third and final substitution.
Thankfully for Newcastle, It seemed as if Clint Dempsey had left his shooting boots at home as he made yet another miscue, before Fulham had another chance via a set piece, Dempsey took the free kick too, but once again blasted the ball over. His head was much better though as he brought Fulham back into a game which had been completely turned around by the Magpies. Dempsey managed to connect with a lofted free kick, with Krul somewhat stranded of his line this time. It made the final few minutes of the game nervier than they would have been otherwise, especially so when the referee announced that there would be five minutes of extra time as Fulham found a renewed vigour. Thankfully for us though, Fulham couldn’t manage that last gasp equaliser though, and indeed, Newcastle could have regained a two goal advantge when Shwarzer had to tip over another piledriving effort from Demba Ba over the post.
Howay the Lads!
Final Score: Newcastle United 2-1 Fulham. (Newcastle United: Best 48, 66. Fulham: Dempsey 88)
Attendence: 42,684
Newcastle United’s Men of the Match: Tim Krul and Leon Best.
Mentioned in dispatches
Tiote was Tiote, not the kind of chap you’d like to meet down a dark alley, but the referee seemed to be smiling on him in this game, so miraculously, there were none of the usual yellow cards for the Ivory Coast enforcer. Not one of his best games generally though.
Despite a lousy start by most Newcastle players, Obertan’s pace and Cabaye’s passing looked quite promising once Newcastle worked thorugh their difficult early phase.
Newcastle United (4-4-2): Tim Krul (G), Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini(C), Ryan_Taylor, Gabriel Obertan, Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Leon Best (Haris Vuckic 78, Alan Smith 86), Peter Lovenkrands (Demba Ba 62).
Subs: Ole Soderberg (G), Shane Ferguson, Haris Vuckic, Sylvain Marveaux, Alan Smith, Sammy Ameobi, Demba Ba.
Fulham (4-4-2): Mark Schwarzer (G), Chris Baird, Brede Hangeland, Aaron Hughes, Matthew Briggs; Damien Duff, Steve Sidwell, Danny Murphy (C), Pajtim Kasami (Andrew Johnson 73), Clint Dempsey, Mousa Dembele.
Subs: Andrew Johnson, Neil Etheridge, Stephen Kelly, Philippe Senderos, Dickson Etuhu, Marcel Gecov, Karim Frei.
Referee: Kevin Friend.
Kick-off: 1:00PM, Sunday 28th August.
Attendence: 42,684.
Match Highlights and post match interviews
Now updated with 11 minute highlights and post match interviews with Alan Pardew and Martin Jol.
11 minute match highlights.
Post match interviews
Alan Pardew praises Leon Best and Tim Krul, and is well happy with Newcastle United’s start to the season.
Martin Jol bemoans Fulham’s inability to capitalise on their chances.
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
workyticket has written 1095 articles on this blog.
Hopefully Ba will get hit top form soon, and form a good partnership with Best, who could get 10+ goals for us this season imo, he seems a real goal poacher. Tim Krul looks like he’ll be a great goalkeeper too, another impressive performance from him today.