BRUNO DELIVERS KNOCKOUT BLOW
Midfielder’s double masks Magpies’ flaws
THEY are making Kevin Keegan’s Entertainers look cautious and defensively sound by comparison and, for supporters of Newcastle United, Eddie Howe’s current vintage feel more like the Tormentors.
But how they enjoyed another crazy contest in which their team attacked with flair and defended with customary despair. This time, though, they won. Just.
They had to take the lead three times to achieve victory, and on each occasion it felt fragile. Forest beat Newcastle 3-1 in Boxing Day’s reverse fixture and they know how to exploit the gaps that Howe and his players just cannot plug.
But in Bruno Guimaraes they had a brilliant matchwinner and the midfielder’s two goals were enough to mask the shortcomings elsewhere. The only surprise was that his strike to make it 3-2 in the 66th minute was the last goal of the game. Until then, this felt headed for the same 4-4 outcome as Newcastle’s last outing at home to Luton.
Instead, they survived a couple of nervy moments late on to make it four straight wins on the road in all competitions. While the home fortress crumbles — no win since before Christmas — they are parking their tanks on opposition lawns and coming out all guns blazing, even if they still shoot themselves in the foot at times.
Their games are seldom dull but, after dominating the first 10 minutes with a near 90 per cent of the ball and taking a deserved lead, it felt like this could be a routine away win against a side who had lost five from six at home. We should have known better.
Their opener is worth revisiting. It looked for a split-second like their short-corner routine had been sloppily executed, but the endproduct was polished. The ball was worked to Kieran Trippier and he swept the ball to the far post where Guimaraes arrived to volley first time beyond debutant keeper Matz Sels, once of Newcastle.
Forest’s tactic, it seemed, was to let the visitors have the ball and then, in rare moments of possession, attempt to expose the same weakness time after time. Howe had spent almost the entirety of his pre-match press briefing defending Dan Burn, the left-back who has struggled of late against pacy wingers.
Anthony Elanga is pacy and he is a winger — as Burn discovered on Boxing Day — and he was only denied a goal in the 17th minute by the feet of Martin Dubravka after escaping behind the Newcastle defender. That served notice of Forest’s intent and the same strategy soon brought them level.
If you asked Siri to show you Newcastle conceding a goal, this would be it. Their midfield was taken out by one pass and, from there, Morgan Gibbs-White released a through-ball that sounded the starter’s gun for a foot race between Elanga and Burn.
There was only going to be one winner and one outcome when Dubravka made the baffling decision to dart beyond his penalty area, allowing Elanga to slip the ball beneath him.
Newcastle regained their advantage after 43 minutes when Fabian Schar snapped a half-volley into the bottom corner from Sven Botman’s headed knock-down, but never were you convinced they would make it to half-time with their lead intact. So it proved.
Callum Hudson-Odoi, ignored to that point given the preference to attack down the right, cut infield from the left and got the luck his endeavour deserved when a 20yard blast deflected in off Lewis Miley. Forest might have been in front on the hour when a straight punt from Sels beat Botman and this time it was the turn of Taiwo Awoniyi to expose Newcastle’s lack of pace. The striker poked the ball around Dubravka and toppled in search of a penalty after contact with the keeper. A VAR review sided with referee Anthony Taylor, who had waved away the appeal.
Guimaraes donned his cape once more to intercept a loose pass from Elanga before driving to the edge of the area and curling a shot beyond the reach of Sels. The scorer and his team may torment their supporters, but the Brazilian really is an entertainer.