Cabaye the lads! Newcastle 3-0 Stoke – match report.
Posted on April 21st, 2012 | 47 Comments |
Two weeks seems like a long wait between games, particularly when Newcastle have the winning momentum with them. Time seemed to pass so slowly that I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve entered a new geological era in the interim. The tediolithic, perhaps. However, the winning momentum hadn’t deserted us and Newcastle cruised to a well-deserved win over Stoke.
It took us a while to get warmed up to things though. For the first 14 minutes we probed Stoke a little but didn’t really threaten and Stoke had the best of the early chances. On 7 minutes Etherington floated a long shot over our bar and a few minutes later Crouch headed a ball across to Walters who was right in front of goal and a mere yard or two away from it, but he couldn’t control the ball enough to get a decent shot off.
But then we started to play. Santon brought the ball up the left and started working it with Benny, who broke off to the left of the box, plying his mesmerising skills as usual. Benny got a cross in across goal and Cisse headed onto the bar but Yohan Cabaye was lurking to put the rebound into the net. 1-0.
Four minutes later we were two-up. A great through-ball from Cabaye found Cisse in the box, slightly to the left of goal. Cisse shot across the keeper and placed it perfectly into the bottom right of goal where Begovic could do nothing about it. 2-0.
We’d certainly warmed up now and managed fairly long periods of possession, although a trademark long throw from Shotton on 21 minutes was cleared only as far as Huth who took a longish shot from outside the box but it went high over the bar. Cabaye did likewise for us about 5 minutes later with a long shot from well outside the box to the right.
Stoke made their first substitution on 32 minutes when Wilkinson went off for Whitehead after picking up some sort of injury and a few minutes later Stoke picked up their first yellow card when some dazzling dribbling by Benny irritated Palacious enough to see him hack Benny down.
Cisse and Ba swapped positions for a few minutes during which Ba got into a good position after an excellent cross from Cabaye; it took some solid defensive work from Shawcross to keep Ba from getting a clean shot at it. A few minutes later Santon made a probing run up the left but then seemed to find himself in two minds as to whether to cross it square or shoot. He dithered for a few seconds and then took the shot, which was saved by Begovic.
4 minutes before half-time Stoke were roundly booed when Shawcross took Tiote out. Shawcross got a lot of the ball and it wasn’t flagged as a foul but Tiote stayed on the floor for a while afterwards whilst Stoke played on and the crowd made their feelings known in no uncertain terms.
Shawcross was in the thick of it again just before the half-time whistle when he had to make a timely tackle to stop Cisse getting a shot in after he’d been played in by Ba.
Half Time
The second half seemed to be played at a faster pace than the first as Stoke tried – but failed – to get some sort of foothold on the game. First blood almost went to us immediately after the restart when Benny crossed the ball to Ba who elected to chest it down rather than head it and was deprived of a goal. I get the feeling he’s pretty desperate for a goal and I hope he gets one soon, not least as a reward for the excellent work he’s done on the left of Pardiola’s 4-3-3.
Shawcross – who was probably the pick of the Stoke players – picked up a yellow card on 47 minutes when he fouled Demba Ba and a few minutes after that we were on the receiving end of a trilogy of poor decisions by the referee. First, a long ball from Tiote saw Cisse running onto it on the left and Cisse was flagged offside when he wasn’t. Second, a shot from Demba Ba was blocked but fell to Cisse who put it in the net – he was flagged offside for that too but wasn’t. Third, another shot from Ba took a deflection to go wide of goal and we should have had a corner but a goal kick was given.
But we showed them in the end. Ba and Benny were passing it around between themselves just outside the box and the ball found its way to Cabaye who hit a stunner, curling it from just outside the box to the left into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal. 3-0.
Ba kept trying for that elusive goal. On 59 minutes he was played in via a back-heel from Cisse and it took some good defending from Stoke to keep him out. On 65 minutes he was played in again by Cisse but his shot was weak and easy for Berkovic. 30 seconds later Perch played him in and his shot was deflected wide, then on the subsequent corner Colo found himself in space and unmarked in the box but he headed wide. Amidst all that, Walters had a half-chance for Stoke as he motored into our box but pressure from Willo and Colo disturbed him enough to ensure he missed the shot.
We took Cabaye, who seemingly had an ankle injury of some sort, off at 60 minutes and replaced him with Perchinio, and Shola came on for Cisse on 68 minutes. Finally, on 82 minutes Dan Gosling came on for Danny Simpson.
Stoke kept trying to create something but were largely nullified by our defence. On 81 minutes Walters had a decent chance when Whelan’s pass found him in our box just to the left of goal but he fluffed the shot.
Around about the 85 minute mark, Cheick Tiote tried to help himself to a goal. Jonas was body-checked by Huth and we got a free-kick, which Demba Ba took. The free-kick hit the wall and bounced back to Tiote who fired an intercontinental ballistic missile towards the top-left of goal forcing Begovic into an excellent save. Then from the resulting corner Tiote had another crack at goal, which Begovic could only palm away.
On 88 minutes, a Stoke corner went through everyone in our box, which was their last chance of the game.
So that’s the double over Stoke for the first time since the mid-80’s and 6 wins in a row, which is the first time we’ve done that in the top-flight since 1996 (although we did it in our Championship year a few seasons ago).
It was a great team effort today and Jonas deserves a mention for his tireless efforts and consistent help with defensive duties but it’s the goal-scorers who’ll make the headlines. Cisse can’t seem to stop scoring and it was nice to see Cabaye get a couple, proving that we have plenty of options in terms of scoring.
We look genuinely good and I think we’d be a handful for any team at the moment.
Goals: Newcastle United 3 (Yohan Cabaye 14, 57, Papiss Cisse 18), Stoke City 0.
Yellow cards: Wilson Palacios (36), Ryan Shawcross (49),
Red cards: None.
Teams
Newcastle United (4-3-3): Tim Krul (G), Danny Simpson (Dan Gosling 82), Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini (C), Davide Santon, Yohan Cabaye (James Perch 60), Cheick Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Hatem Ben Arfa, Papiss Cisse (Shola Ameobi 69), Demba Ba.
Subs: Rob Elliot (G), Shane Ferguson, James Perch, Dan Gosling, Ryan Taylor, Leon Best, Shola Ameobi.
Stoke City (4-4-2): Asmir Begovic (G) Andy Wilkinson (Dean Whitehead 32), Robert Huth, Ryan Shawcross (c), Marc Wilson; Ryan Shotton, Glenn Whelan, Wilson Palacios (Cameron Jerome 55), Matthew Etherington; Jonathan Walters, Peter Crouch.
Subs: Thomas Sorensen (G), Matthew Upson, Dean Whitehead, Jermaine Pennant, Cameron Jerome, Ricardo Fuller, Kenwyne Jones.
Stats
Possession: Newcastle 59% – 41% Stoke.
Shots Off Target: Newcastle 16 – 7 Stoke.
Shots On Target: Newcastle 11 – 2 Stoke.
Corners: Newcastle 4 – 5 Stoke.
Fouls: Newcastle 8 – 10 Stoke.
Newcastle United v Stoke match highlights.
NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen
I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10).
Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.
A class act today. Thanks Hugh, and Worky for the links. HWTL!