Season 1 - Who Needs Form Anyway?

With preseason and the transfer window finished, it's time to start building our initial league form and seeing where this puts us, so far the early couple of games at the end of August haven't been an ideal start, but can we start to build ourselves a bit of form and put ourselves in a good position to begin with. In this chapter we will cover September and October, so it'll be purely game results and observations from within the games, rather than too much planning and swapping and changing. So let's get straight into the matches!

Matches

Newcastle 2 - 0 Southampton

We started with a strong showing against one of the relegation favourites, and cheered on by the home crowd we were very comfortable within this game. We were creating plenty of chances, we wasn't giving away many big chances and we had the majority of the ball, the only thing that was missing was the goals. We finally made the breakthrough in the 75th minute with a hopeful pass from Willock, but a bit of Isak magic got the better of his defender and he was able to slot into the bottom corner. Five minutes later the young left back Hackett tried to get to the byline only to be tripped up by the defender, giving Isak a simple second from the penalty spot.

Brighton 2 - 1 Newcastle

Up next we had an away trip to the south coast, where we faced Brighton. Things started well, we had the early momentum and just 12 minutes in Dan Burn headed home against his former team on the second stage of a corner routine. Things were looking pretty promising and we had the better of the first half. Unfortunately the second half we switched off, a few players just dropped in their performances, Brighton got control of the ball and then they scored twice to turn this round. Joelinton was responsible for both goals, as it was his sloppy passing that lead to them being able to break us down whilst players weren't in defensive positions, and it was the retirement home duo that got the goals. First Welbeck and then Milner got the winner, which leads to a disappointing result and an away form starting to follow a trend which I will need to sort out sooner rather than later.

Newcastle 3 - 0 Nottingham Forest

Back at the home ground, and the performances are getting the deserved results. This was our first performance of the season which was complete domination in all factors from start to finish. We also started to see what Wirtz was going to be offering us on the back of all the money spent on him. He started the game off by slicing the defence open with a single pass, taking out 3 players and leaving Barnes one v one who was never going to miss. This was followed by Trippier hitting a free kick right on the bring of half time, it took a deflection off the wall and left their keeper going the wrong way and straight in to make it 2-0. On the worry that we may follow the pattern of the second half not being where we perform, the players put that to rest and continued their first half form. More chances were created but in the end we only added one more, when another set piece routine fell to Le Bris who played the ball in to Joelinton who slotted nicely into the near post to round off the game at 3-0. The strong home form is already there, further evidence that if we sort out the away form, we could be a force to go higher than we expected at the start of the season.

Newcastle 2 - 0 Bolton Wanderers (Carabao Cup)

Now the cup runs begin as well for us, we were handed a nicer looking tie against League One side Bolton so we took advantage and fully rotated all 11 players. Using a mixture of young players and rotation options, as well as a couple who we're using quite a bit this season but not necessarily my main starter in their position we managed to create a team more than strong enough to win. There was a little bit throughout the game where players weren't quite clicking but that was to be expected, and a Wilson double of simple goals, a tap in from a Trippier cross to start off and then a penalty for his second was all that was needed to put this one away. We got some good performances from Murphy, Hackett and Schar furthering them as more consistent options for us moving forward.

Fulham 0 - 2 Newcastle

Next up was another away game which we've struggled with, and typically it turned into one of the most end to end games of football possible. With 39 shots in total between the two teams, spread evenly as 19 for Fulham and 20 for us it actually created a strong showing of some poor finishing all round. However fortunately for us we got off to a strong start, when a Wirtz corner was headed home by Dan Burn in the 10th minute, and then we doubled our lead in the 42nd minute when Wilson held the ball up, laid it off for Tonali on the edge of the box who hit a screamer into the top corner to make it 2-0 at half time. Second half came and neither team could take any of the multiple chances they created, and we were able to leave with our first away win of the season.

Newcastle 2 - 0 Arsenal

Up next we had ourselves one of the best teams in the league, the sort of team we are looking to be in the mix with each season as we progress to being title contenders. Luckily we were playing at home where we are so far unbeaten this season, and that gave us the advantage we needed to be the more creative team of the two. Arsenal had more of the ball but we created almost double the amount of chances as them. Our first goal came from what is starting to look like a good threat for us, this time Hall took the corner from the left side and once again, finds Dan Burn who heads home another goal for us. Then right before half time, Hall took a free kick, and initially looked like he had overhit it as it went deep behind the defence and I thought was just going to go out of play, luckily Wirtz had followed it in and stretched to get a volley off it and straight in for his first goal of the season and for the club. The first half had been even but we took our chances and went in with a 2-0 lead, in the second half we nullified their attack and could have had another goal ourselves but couldn't take the chances in the half and the game finished 2-0. The home form continues!

Man City 3 - 1 Newcastle

Following our big win against Arsenal, our run of tough fixtures continued with an away game against the current champions Man City. The game was actually very close despite the scoreline in the end. We started the game with Isak getting a goal in the 12th minute, only for the offside flag to go up and rule it out. On the half hour mark Foden went on a solo run before looping it in the top corner gave them a 1-0 lead from a piece of magic. Straight after this Isak goes through and has a sitter, only he misses it and it starts to look like one of those games for him. However, in the 43rd minute Isak decides to take a long range effort, and it nestles in the bottom corner making it 1-1, and then the momentum is back with us, as Isak scores another goal just before half time but once again ruled out for offside. That killed our momentum and in the second half Man City took over, Gundogan took a shot from the edge of the area which was deflected and went in to make it 2-1, before adding his second when Marmoush cut the ball back across from the right win to make it 3-1. By this point we were struggling to create anything and was just waiting for it to finish without conceding any more.

Newcastle 1 - 2 Liverpool

The tough run of fixtures continues with a home game against Liverpool, and this time the home crowd wasn't enough to sway it in our favour. In terms of creating chances we were the better team, but finishing was again the difference and Liverpool took advantage of us not being able to finish. They got their first goal on the counter attack when Bissouma broke down our attack, and then released Chiesa who got into the box and finished into the bottom corner. This was followed 3 minutes later by Bissouma winning a header at the back post, but seemingly heads it straight at Pope who found a way to let it go through him giving them a 2-0 lead at half time. We started to create some bigger chances in the second half and in the 67th minute Isak slotted home a cross from Barnes to give us a chance at pulling it back, however unfortunately we weren't able to get a second goal ourselves and we suffered our first home defeat of the season.

QPR 0 - 4 Newcastle (Carabao Cup)

Back to the cup run after the tough set of fixtures, and this time we had an away game against Championship club QPR. Again we fully rotated the 11 to keep people fresh and make sure everyone is involved in the season, and this time they took their chance to impress as much as possible. We started with a flat cross by Le Bris which was tapped home by Willock in the 6th minute, to really set the tone of what was about to happen. We then won a penalty which for some reason Schar was taking, but he still smashed it home to make it 2-0. Immediately as the second half started we broke down the right wing, and Murphy crossed it straight to Wilson who was given a tap in to make it 3. The game was pretty much done from this point, but we added a fourth after Wirtz again finds a gap through the defence, for Murphy to run on to and hit home for his first of the season. The cup run continues and hopefully a big win means those tough games against City and Liverpool won't linger too long.

The Table

So our home and away form being rather contradicting shows in our place in the league table so far in fairness. With us being great at home but poor away, leaves us slap bang in the centre of the league, however it's worth noting that one win with results going our way can put us straight up to third, so the league hasn't began to spread out too much yet. Surprises so far would be Wolves up in 5th, and then opposite end of the table would be Fulham and Brighton both in the relegation zone currently.

Next Time

Next time we will be progressing through November and December, hitting the majority of the winter season and will hopefully shape us up for knowing what we need to do in January for the window. Hopefully we can start to sort out the away form and climb ourselves comfortably in to the European places as that is our goal so the earlier we can secure that the better.