Bruno Guimaraes’ gesture, Dan Burn’s dream and Jason Tindall’s anger – Newcastle United moments missed

Kieran Trippier gets involved in VAR call

For the third game running, Newcastle benefited from a VAR call in their favour.

With 10 minutes on the clock, Bryan Mbeumo thought he’d given Brentford the lead after beating the offside trap and drilling the ball low past Nick Pope.

But a VAR check prompted referee John Brooks to go and check the monitor and assess a potential offside.

Offside goal decisions via VAR are usually made directly from Stockley Park without any involvement of the in-game officials – though this call required the referee’s interpretation.

Mbeumo was clearly onside in the build-up to the goal but his team-mate, Ivan Toney, was in an offside position. The striker intentionally moved out of the way of Shandon Baptiste’s through ball but Brooks had to make a decision as to whether the former Newcastle youngster interfered with play.

Given that the Brentford striker pulled Fabian Schar away from Mbeumo with his dummy of the ball, the visitors could have few complaints.

Although it took the referee a bit of time to make a decision, an overlooking and clearly biased Kieran Trippier took no time to decide that the goal would be ruled out as he caught a sneaky glance at the monitor.

The Newcastle matchday captain gestured to the officials that the goal was offside and appeared confident that it would be ruled out as he turned away.

About 20 seconds later, that’s exactly what happened.

Jason Tindall frustrated on the touchline

Shortly after Brentford’s disallowed goal, Newcastle took the lead through a well-worked training ground routine as Bruno Guimaraes peeled away to head in Trippier’s pinpoint cross towards the back post.

And they had a great opportunity to double their advantage as Jacob Murphy slid through Callum Wilson. The Newcastle No. 9 had a slight sniff at goal and opted for a difficult shot which was duly blocked while the charging Miguel Almiron and Joe Willock stood in acres of space inside the penalty area.

Although Willock and Almiron only appeared slightly disappointed not to receive a pass, on the touchline, United assistant manager Jason Tindall was visibly annoyed with Wilson’s decision making as he made his feelings clear that the striker should have got his head up and looked for the pass.

But Wilson did what any good player does and learned from his ‘mistake’ almost instantly as he cut out a pass from Brentford goalkeeper David Raya before unselfishly laying the ball on a plate for Jacob Murphy to double Newcastle’s advantage. It was the winger’s first goal since the opening day of last season and Wilson’s first assist since February 2021.

Bruno Guimaraes’ gesture to the crowd

Early in the second half, Brentford started to get some momentum behind them and pulled a goal back from the penalty spot through Toney after Dan Burn was penalised for handball.

The Bees were applying the pressure on Newcastle before Guimaraes single-handedly took the sting out of their tail with a individually-crafted strike. The Brazilian won the ball back inside the Brentford half with some high-intensity pressing before charging towards goal and drilling the ball into the bottom left corner from 25-yards out.

The strike came at such a crucial time to restore Newcastle’s two-goal advantage and put them well on their way to securing their first home win since the opening day of the season.

After celebrating the goal with a trademark knee slide, Guimaraes looked up to the crowd and made a ‘heart’ symbol with his hands.

The midfielder was looking up at his family, who had flown over to Newcastle. In addition to his first two goals of the season, the Brazilian is expecting the birth of his first child any day now.

"My whole family were in the stadium, my son [Matteo] will be born in the next week so it was important for me,” Guimaraes said after the game. "I'm so grateful. It is one of the best days of my life."

Dan Burn’s ‘special moment’

Newcastle fan Dan Burn got to live a boyhood ‘dream’ of his in the closing stages of the match as captain Trippier was substituted. As the England international left the pitch, he handed his armband to Burn.

And for around nine minutes, the 30-year-old was Newcastle’s captain.

"I'm not planning on taking it off, it was special,” he joked to NUFC TV afterwards. “Obviously supporting Newcastle as a boy, you dream of captaining Newcastle.

"It would be great if I could manage to start a game as captain but I'll take anything. It's a special moment for me.”

A blast from the past

Further goals from Miguel Almiron and an Ethan Pinnock own goal set-up by Joelinton added further gloss to the scoreline for Newcastle late on as the match ended 5-1.

The win was made even more impressive by the fact Newcastle had also thrashed Fulham 4-1 last weekend.

And after failing to score from open play in September – admittedly in only two games – Newcastle have found the net nine times in two games so far this October.

It’s the first time The Magpies have scored four or more goals in consecutive Premier League matches in over two decades. Back in September 2001, a 4-1 win at Middlesbrough was followed by that famous 4-3 victory over Manchester United at St James’s Park under Sir Bobby Robson.

The convincing back-to-back wins have not only helped Newcastle’s goal difference – which is the best it has been in the Premier League since 2011-12 – but it has also seen them climb up to fifth in the table.

A year on from the takeover, the progress has been staggering.