Season 1 - European Push

With January completed, we have no other distractions other than our performances in the matches with the current squad to really cement ourselves in the race for Europe at the end of the season. Whether that be through league placement or by winning the FA Cup, we have a couple of options, but this is the time of the season where we really have to put ourselves in the best position possible.

The Matches

Newcastle 1 - 1 Brighton

This was not the best way to start this chunk of the season, with quite a few things going wrong in this game despite us still gaining a point. It's worth remembering that this Brighton team are currently in the relegation zone so this should have been a much easier game for us to win. It started badly when Pope gets beaten at his near post but we get away with it due to the offside flag ruling it out. The rest of the first half is quiet, the only other moment of note is an injury to Livramento. In the second half Wirtz finds some space on the edge of the box and finishes into the bottom corner to give us the lead, the only real major chance, despite us creating quite a few smaller chances throughout the half. Then with five minutes added on, Trippier also goes down injured, which due to subs all being used puts us down to 10 men, and then in the 98th minute they score a tap in to make it 1-1.

Nottingham Forest 1 - 1 Newcastle

Fortunately for us, both right backs were only minor injuries and were both back available for the Forest game, however it didn't help us out too much for getting a better result. We follow up a 1-1 draw with a second 1-1 draw and the points are starting to slip. The goals in this game were pretty good however, ours came early in the first half with Barnes stealing the ball off the defender, running straight into the box and smashes it into the far bottom corner to give us the lead. However our ex player Anderson punishes Barnes for losing the ball cheaply, where he ends up with space outside the box and fires a screamer into the top corner to level it all up. It was another quiet match though and nothing really happened due to poor performances from both teams overall.

Newcastle 5 - 1 Fulham

Fortunately our run of draws came to a close with an emphatic win over Fulham, where despite giving up plenty of chances to them and not really creating too many ourselves, we were clinical and scored 5 out of the 6 shots on target that we had. Gordon chipped the ball over the defence for Wilson to run on to and finish in the 2nd minute, but this got ruled out for offside, but a few minutes later Aradj crosses it deep and Gordon makes a run off his defender to get an unmarked head to make it 1-0. Barnes then gets the second when he flicks the ball past his marker and fires it in at the near post. The third was a wonderful goal, with Gordon and Bruno playing a one-two with each other before Gordon curls it into the far corner to make it 3-0. The fourth comes from Bruno having some space on the edge of the box, takes a long range effort but Gordon sticks out a foot and directs it the opposite way leaving the keeper no chance and he gets his hat trick. The second half then looked like it was going to continue in the same vain, when Trippier finds Barnes in the box and he finishes it into the near post corner to make it 5-0, but then we went quiet and decided to just see the game out. They did get one back when a low cross found Reiss Nelson in the box for a tap in to get a consolation goal. A comfortable win and back on winning form.

Arsenal 2 - 1 Newcastle

The first of our run of 3 league games against the other members of the top four in a row didn't exactly go to plan, although it was a close game. It looked like we were potentially going to get walked off the park and have a real reminder of how big the gap is that we're trying to close to the big teams in England but we managed to settle into the game and grew into it, but were punished for the slow start. It began with a throw in routine, where Rice then links up with Sterling and Rice scores from close range within the box to give them a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute of the game. This was then followed up on the 32nd minute, when their corner is met by Gabriel to make it 2-0. We regrouped at half time and came out the slightly better team, and we got our goal back when Wirtz took a shot from the edge of the area which had a massive deflection off Gabriel to beat the keeper. Unfortunately we wasn't able to get a second despite a few attempts in the second half, and we ended up losing 2-1.

Newcastle 4 - 1 Leicester (FA Cup 5th Round)

We have a short respite from our league schedule when we had to play our next round of the FA Cup against struggling Leicester, and this time we had a nice simple time of it, even with a very rotated team again. Klemens gave the ball out wide to Kuol, who cuts into the box and curls it into the far corner to give us the lead. Then on the 40th minute Willock takes a shot from the edge of the box which gets blocked by a defender using their arm and the penalty is given. Wilson steps up and sends the keeper the wrong way to double our lead at half time. In the second half, Wilson found himself out wide and put in a cross which Gordon headed home for our third. They then got a goal back through a free kick routine which caught out our defence and Ndidi was able to apply the finish for them. However they never really looked like growing back into the game after their goal, and we restored our three goal lead when Le Bris crossed it to the near post to be met by Cross-Adair to tap home a 4th goal of the game for us. We have been drawn against Aston Villa in the quarter finals.

Newcastle 2 - 2 Man City

How we have come out of this game with a point I'll never know, as it was easily our worst home performance of the season so far. To sum up how bad it was, we only managed 1 shot on target, despite scoring twice. We did create a lovely passing move which ended up with the ball being whipped across to Gordon and he finishes but that was disallowed for offside, and then with that decision we just seemed to give in to Man City and let them take control of the game. Just on the brink of half time, Bruno brings down the attacking in the box giving them a penalty, which Haaland made no mistake with and sent Pope the wrong way to give them the lead. In the second half we did get a goal back early, when Trippier's corner was met by Botman to head home and make it 1-1 but this didn't change the flow of the game at all. Foden shortly found himself out wide and put in a cross which was tapped home by Haaland for his second, and the rest of the half was essentially Haaland just trying to get his hat trick which looked pretty much odds on to be about to happen. However we were preventing him and in the 94th minute, Joelinton won the ball back in the centre of midfield and ran out wide with it, he then played in a cross which Wilson was trying to run on to, but it hit Ederson and somehow deflected in for an own goal and made it 2-2. We didn't deserve anything from the game, but we will take it and a massive point against one of our European rivals.

Liverpool 1 - 0 Newcastle

The final part of our trilogy came at the place we had our worst performance of the season so far, we returned to Anfield where they thrashed us 6-0 in the Carabao Cup semi final. It's safe to say Liverpool have had our number all season, and this game was no different. Despite keeping it far closer in terms of chances being created and possession and actually being in the game, they were the team that once again took a chance to give themselves the 1-0 win. The goal came from Van Dijk meeting a corner to head it home in the closing part of the first half, and then nothing was really created by either team for the rest of the game. A pretty poor showing of a match in general, and we have come out of it with nothing.

Newcastle 2 - 2 Villa (4-5 on Penalties, FA Cup Quarter Final)

This was a very good match to watch in comparison to the previous two we've been a part of, but we were unlucky in losing on the lottery that is penalties and our FA Cup run ends here. It started with conceding an early goal, when a simple ball over the top of our defence completely split them and Malen ran through to give them the 1-0 lead. We were poor in the first half hour but then we fully took over. We had to wait until the second half to get our rewards but it came when Wirtz laid it off for Joelinton to run onto at the edge of the box and hit first time into the bottom corner to make it 1-1. We then followed this up when Wirtz took a free kick and it was met by Gordon at the back post to head home and make it 2-1 to us. However in the final 10 minutes they started to try push on for the equaliser, and they ended up getting it when Rashford beat Schar to the ball, and he ran into the box and slid it across for Watkins to tap in and make it 2-2. They then had a goal disallowed in the 95th minute when Watkins was deemed offside and this then meant we were going to extra time. In extra time they scored a goal from a free kick routine, but we were once again saved by the offside decision to keep it level. Our luck with VAR didn't go all our way though, when Barnes was brought down in the box and the referee gave a penalty, only for VAR to overrule the decision and no penalty decided. The penalty shootout then went through to sudden death, with Wirtz and Malen missing one for each team in the initial 5, however Barnes hit the post with his effort and that is what lost us the shootout.

Newcastle 3 - 0 Bournemouth

So on the back of a couple of poor performances in the league and then an unlucky defeat in the FA Cup you could accept our team being a little off it at the moment, however that was not the case. They came out wanting to prove a point, and were completely dominant in the first half. We finally got our reward for the domination in the 44th minute, when Hall beats his marker on the left side of the pitch and then unleashes it into the near top corner to give us a 1-0 lead at half time. Shortly after in the second half, Barnes breaks down the wing, gives it back to Wirtz who lays it off for Bruno on the edge of the box, he takes a touch and then fires it into the bottom corner to double our lead. The third came when Hall floated a deep cross into the box which Barnes got up above his full back and headed it in to seal the win. In extra time Bueno released Barnes who finishes nicely into the far corner, but this was deemed offside and ruled out so we only win 3-0.

Leicester 1 - 4 Newcastle

With the final game of the month, we had yet another dominant performance again Leicester who just don't seem to be able to stop us scoring against them, as we score 4 past them for the 2nd time in a row in two months. We started with Livramento and Barnes linking up nicely down the right wing, which Barnes breaks into the box and scores from very close range to give us the lead. Shortly after this Livramento finds space on the right, and crosses the ball in which takes a deflection off the defender and beats his own keeper to make it 2-0. We created lots of chances in the second half but were struggling to finish any of them, until Bruno's cross was headed in by Le Bris to make it 3-0. Le Bris then breaks down the centre of the pitch, and plays it through for Isak who scores, only for it to be ruled out for offside again. Not long after this Bruno is deemed to have brought down their striker in the box for another penalty against us, and Vardy smashes it down the middle of the goal and in to make it 3-1 late in the day. However we restored our 3 goal lead when Trippier's corner was met by Dan Burn to head home and give us another 4-1 victory over Leicester.

The League

With just 7 games remaining, we have well and truly placed ourselves in the hunt for the Champions League. It is looking a formality for Liverpool to win the league, but between Man City, us, Arsenal, Tottenham and Villa the places for 2nd-4th are all up for grabs. Chelsea continue to have a poor season and find themselves down in 11th, whilst the promoted three have now slipped back into the relegation zone as Brighton look like they may be about to recover and survive, Eddie Howe seems to have turned them round quite a bit.

Also during this time we have had the NXGN top 50 wonderkids in the world announced, which was won by Rico Lewis of Man City this year. This is a list of the best performing players under the age of 19 in the world, and is always a good place to scout for some new talent as well as know where your own youngsters are matching up against the bigger names. We didn't have any in it this year, but we'll be aiming to get a few in there over the coming years, especially with some of our January signings when they start to break into the first team more often.

Next Time

Our next post will be the season finale, where we have the above 7 games to play through which looks quite a simple run in as we have none of our competitors left to play for those Champions League spots. We will also do a season review where we look at top goalscorers, top assists and competition winners, whilst looking ahead to what we believe is plans for moving into the following season. Can we secure Champions League football next year?