CAPTAIN LEAPER LEGEND
Jamaal a Toon hero at both ends
JAMAAL LASCELLES is not commonly available on prescription, but he provided Rafa Benitez with the perfect get-well-soon therapy.
As the absent Benitez watched on TV at home on the Wirral as he recovered from surgery, Toon skipper Lascelles was the hero at both ends of the pitch. He followed a fabulous goalline clearance to deny England Under-21 striker Tammy Abraham a certain goal at one end with a towering header at the other, 13 minutes from time, and Newcastle deservedly carried off all the swag on the 360-mile journey home. Boss Benitez stayed in touch with his coaching staff throughout with a telecommunications operation of military precision. He relayed instructions via mobile phone to assistant Antonio Gomez in the stand. Gomez, in turn, relayed the
intelligence to first team coach Mikel Antia, who was hooked up to a headset in the technical area.
And the expertise on Radio Rafa turned to celebrations straight from the airwaves of Radio Ga Ga among 2,000 travelling Geordie disciples when Lascelles met Matt Ritchie’s corner with an emphatic header.
For their resilience and tenacity alone, Newcastle deserved their first Premier League away win since December 2015.
And Lascelles’ winner should be another nail in the coffin of zonal marking after he powered in to meet Ritchie’s flag-kick.
On the hour, Lascelles had sprinted back at full tilt and slid in to clear Abraham’s shot off the line after the Swansea forward had skipped round Rob Elliot and looked certain to score.
He said: “I was mad at myself for letting Tammy get in that position and fortunately I was able to get back and slide in before he hit it.
“With zonal marking, I’m not a fan – but we’re not complaining.
“To see them set up like that at set-pieces, I thought we’d get chances.
“Matt has a great delivery and it’s my job to get on the end of it.”
Swansea, and their exotic on-loan signing from Bayern Munich Renato Sanches, we can deal with summarily.
Matron will be round with the medicine chest shortly.
Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski had to put the ‘fab’ in his surname with a spectacular first-half save from Joselu’s glancing header, and Swans boss Paul Clement was scathing of his side’s performance.
Midfield signing Sanches gave the ball away more often in midfield than petrol stations used to give away Green Shield stamps with every gallon of fuel, and Clement raged: “I’m finding it difficult to understand why I saw what I saw out there.
“There’s no crisis because it’s still early days and there are new faces to be integrated into the group, but we’ve got to wake up quick because this league is very unforgiving.
“Although the margin of defeat was ultimately decided by a set-play, the difference between the teams in terms of performance was greater than that.
“They were more combative, we gave the ball away too often, we didn’t get a decent ball into the box and our control between the lines wasn’t good enough.”
Apart from Lascelles thwarting Abraham and the unmarked Alfie Mawson heading wastefully wide from six yards just before the interval, the Swans were insipid in the final third.
While Clement needs to make sure his players are all on the same frequency, there is nothing wrong with the signal on Radio Rafa.
And while Benitez rules the wavelengths on Tyneside – even if it’s from the sofa at home – Newcastle will stay up comfortably.