Hodgson frustrated as Newcastle hold firm
This was the footballing equivalent of trench warfare, an ugly, gruelling contest ending in an unsatisfying stalemate, which failed to enhance either side’s hopes of winning a bigger battle.
Crystal Palace and Newcastle United looked like two poor teams, constrained by the tension of the occasion, hardworking and well organised but drained of their sense of adventure, wrestling each other into mutual frustration in the torrential rain.
This was not a spectacle, it was an endurance test. A consequence of the dire weather conditions, to an extent, but also the price you pay for the instinctive conservatism of two vastly experienced managers in Roy Hodgson and Rafa Benitez, who are already digging in for a relegation fight.
Palace probably should have won. They had two wonderful chances late in the second half, the first a header missed by Mamadou Sakho and the second a cross by Wilfried Zaha that some- how flashed across goal without anyone able to tap it into the net.
Newcastle also had a few halfchances but they look like a team with major deficiencies going forward. Ayoze Perez missed the best of them when, despite being gifted a run in on goal by James Tomkins, he hit a weak shot straight at goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey early in the first half.
The fact that their main striker, Salomon Rondon, was replaced at halftime with an injury perhaps explains why he was so poor, but there was no such excuse for Kenedy, the other member of Newcastle’s attacking trio. The 22-year-old, on loan from Chelsea, was brilliant for Newcastle last term but he has been nothing like the same player this season and could barely do anything right here.
For all the sense of frustration, though, neither manager was too disappointed with the outcome. Beating the teams around you in the table is all well and good but, at this stage of the season, it is perhaps even more important not to lose.
“I’m frustrated. We created enough chances to win the game, but not too disappointed,” said Hodgson. “When teams defend as well as Newcastle did, they will feel they deserved the bit of luck needed to get a point.”
As for Benitez, in front of the watching Mike Ashley – Newcastle’s owner attending his first game since May 2017 – there was also satisfaction. “We knew it could be difficult,” he said. “We did not play well enough on the counter-attack, but we worked well as a unit and stayed together as a team until the end. This is something we can build on.” His club may face punishment, however, as a fan threw a plastic bottle at Aaron Wan-Bissaka.