Eddie Howe complains to Premier League official as one doubt & two ruled out for Newcastle United v West Ham
Newcastle United came from behind to beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 at the City Ground on Sunday afternoon - here are five talking points from the game.
Murillo headed Forest in front midway through the first half before Alexander Isak levelled shortly after the restart in the second half from an Anthony Gordon corner. Joelinton put Newcastle in front with a curling left-footed strike and substitute Harvey Barnes made it 3-1 in the closing stages of the match.
The result saw Newcastle climb back into the top half of the Premier League table and just one point behind third place after 11 matches. Here are the talking points...
Eddie Howe names unchanged side with double boost and fresh blow confirmed
Eddie Howe named an unchanged Newcastle starting line-up for the match at the City Ground following last weekend’s 1-0 win over Arsenal. The midfield three of Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff and Bruno Guimaraes remained, as did Joelinton on the left wing, Anthony Gordon on the right wing and Alexander Isak through the middle in attack.
There were, however, changes on the bench with Jacob Murphy returning after a two-match absence with a hamstring issue while Matt Targett made the bench for the first time since August following an eczema flare-up that kept him out of contention. The left-back hasn’t featured for Newcastle’s first-team in over a year due to various fitness issues.
The pair came onto the bench in place of youngster Alex Murphy and right-back Emil Krafth, who suffered an injury in the build-up to the match and had to withdraw from the matchday squad - as well as the Sweden national squad - as a result.
While Newcastle started the game well with an unchanged line-up, they suffered a setback midway through the first half as Murillo headed in Anthony Elanga’s free-kick which came against the run of play. Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope was particularly disappointed as the goal came about as a result of a corner that he felt should have been a goal kick.
Dan Burn issued Premier League ban as Eddie Howe complains to official
Newcastle defender Dan Burn’s almost inevitable one-match ban for picking up five yellow cards was triggered after he was shown an early booking for a foul on Morgan Gibbs-White. Premier League rules state that any player shown five yellow cards in the opening 19 matches of the season will be banned for one match.
Burn will miss the West Ham United match after the international break as a result. While Howe saw the silver lining in the fact that Fabian Schar and Joelinton, who are on four bookings, delayed their potential suspension, he was particularly frustrated with the decision as he complained to fourth official Michael Salisbury.
While Howe had no complaints over Burn’s foul being worthy of a yellow card, the Newcastle boss felt it should have not been allowed to happen by referee Anthony Taylor in the first place as Tino Livramento was lying on the floor with blood coming from his mouth after being on the receiving end of an elbow from Forest captain Ryan Yates.
“It’s very rare you see me run to the fourth official but I thought Tino had been elbowed in the face and it was a clear free-kick, wasn’t given and Dan paid the price for that really,” Howe told The Gazette. “He feels like he has to make the foul in that moment.
“We knew we were going to lose Dan at some stage and Fabby and Joey are in the same position so I’m probably pleased we’re not losing them all at the same time. It’s a huge blow to lose Dan, he’s done very well this season.”
Yates later clashed with Sean Longstaff with a high challenge that some supporters felt should have been a red card before he was finally booked in the second half.
When in doubt, move Joelinton about
Newcastle’s turnaround over the past couple of weeks has been largely down to Eddie Howe’s decision to move Joelinton from midfield to further up the pitch. The Brazilian shone on the left wing against Chelsea and Arsenal and kept his place in that position for the start of the match at Forest.
But with Newcastle needing to find answers in the final third after, Howe swapped Joelinton and Gordon around in a positive move. Gordon was back in his preferred left-wing position while Joelinton was able to find more space in the final third as the game became stretched in the second half.
Isak equalised from Gordon’s corner early in the second half before playing the ball to Joelinton, who still had a lot to do before curling an effort past Matz Sels and into the bottom left corner of the goal to make it 2-1.
“Joey is an amazing player, isn’t he?” Howe said afterwards. “Today he moved from left wing to right wing. It wasn’t something we necessarily pre-planned but I felt it was needed in the game to try and get Anthony into the game more was the purpose of that.
“Joey goes to the right and does a good job wherever he is put. He’s got that attitude that he doesn’t care where he is as long as he’s on the pitch. He scored a great goal, a great left-footed finish and I had the perfect view of it. Just delighted to see it hit the net and probably the biggest moment in the game.”
Newcastle United’s £90m change makes an impact
Sandro Tonali came on with just over 20 minutes left to play and within three minutes he was playing a role in Joelinton’s goal. Barnes was then introduced for the final 10 minutes of normal time and scored within three minutes of being on the pitch in a devastating counter-attacking move which saw Tonali grab an assist.
Newcastle’s substitutes have been key this season and Howe was pleased to see the injection of energy and quality from Tonali and Barnes help seal another three points.
“It doesn't often happen but it's part of the game and you need your substitutes to impact the game positively,” Howe said. “You need good people to respect that they're not starting but then come on with the attitude to go 'I'll make a positive difference, the team needs me.' I think we had that where we had top players coming on with the right attitude that helped us win.”
A potential injury concern for Anthony Gordon
Barnes’ introduction was forced as Gordon was struggling with a knock in the closing stages of the match. After the game, Howe confirmed the winger was struggling with a hip issue and would be a doubt to go away with England during the international break.
A decision is expected very soon as Newcastle’s non-international players have a short break before heading to Saudi Arabia for warm-weather training. In two weeks, they are back in Premier League action against West Ham United at St James’ Park.