REECE IS THE WORD
King James leaves Toon board in awe
AMANDA STAVELEY and her Saudi backers looked on in awe as the European champions and Premier League leaders strutted their stuff on the St James’ Park turf.
It’s a sight they hope becomes common at the stadium in years to come but on this sobering occasion, the new regime could only dream as today’s Chelsea superstars proved far too strong for tomorrow’s Toon wannabes.
And at this rate, with Newcastle still in search of their first win this term, they could be welcoming far less illustrious visitors to Tyneside in the future with relegation looking a real possibility.
Chelsea had to wait until the 65th minute to break Geordie resistance with the outstanding Reece James smashing home an unstoppable shot past Karl Darlow when Callum Hudson-odoi’s cross reached him beyond the far post.
And James doubled his and the Blues’ tally 12 minutes later, scoring with an equally ferocious drive after Hudson-odoi’s effort had been charged down.
Before that, the visitors, who lost Mason Mount before kick-off due to illness, were always purposeful but far too pedestrian against unambitious but effective opponents.
Newcastle were beginning to think a first clean sheet of the season was within grasp until James pounced at the double.
If the opening hour had been a grim duel between attack and defence, the closing stages portrayed the chasm between these sides.
And in the 81st minute, Jorginho coolly slotted home Chelsea’s third from the penalty spot after Darlow had tripped Kai Havertz.
With both Liverpool and Manchester City dropping points, the Blues are now three points clear at the top of the table, but Thomas Tuchel is not gloating.
“There is never a moment when we celebrate other results,” said the Chelsea boss.
“We keep our feet on the ground and focus on ourselves because you can lose any game in this league.
But I’m very happy with the team effort.”
On James’ brace, he joked: “Reecey has a kick like a horse but his first goal was also down to Callum’s brilliant dribbling.”
The hours Graeme Jones and his coaches had put in on the training ground last week had initially appeared to have paid off on the evidence of Newcastle’s welldrilled defending.
Hakim Ziyech thought he had fired Chelsea into a 28th-minute lead with a curled finish but the home back-line stepped up in perfect unison, leaving the Moroccan fractionally offside.
Five minutes later, however, Ziyech should have broken the deadlock, only to miss the target with a volley at the far post after Havertz had flicked on James’ cross.
Jones’ game-plan was unashamedly cautious with top scorer Callum Wilson and French magician Allan Saint-maximin spending more time behind the ball than sniffing chances.
Yet Newcastle did have their moments.
With less than a minute on the clock, Ryan Fraser’s low ball flew across the face of goal and Wilson headed a Matt Ritchie free-kick over.
Just as against Tottenham a fortnight ago, a frenzied atmosphere degenerated into something funereal and there were ironic cheers when Javier Manquillo had a tame shot on target in the closing stages.
Jones admits Newcastle need a new manager sooner rather than later.
“It probably needs a fresh face,” he said.
“We’re in a relegation battle, no question, and we need to face it like men.
“But that was not a 3-0 game. For 65 minutes, we stuck to it but couldn’t sustain it.”