Magical display by the wizard puts a curse on the Bees
NEWCASTLE United moved up to fifth place in the Premier League following a superb 5-1 win against Brentford at St James’ Park yesterday.
Here are five things we learned from the game.
BRUNO GUIMARAES STEPS UP
.... AND SOME
If there was going to be a player who made something happen for Newcastle on Saturday it was the silver-haired wizard in the middle of the park - : Bruno Guimaraes.
Whether it was winning the ball back for his side, trying to cut Brentford open or even scoring a couple of goals, this may have been Guimaraes’ most influential display yet for Newcastle - and that really is saying something.
Guimaraes’ first goal came from a set-piece routine straight from the training ground.
Miguel Almiron played it short to Kieran Trippier and the right-back’s teasing cross was nodded home at the far post after the Brazil international peeled away from his marker to take the roof off St James’ Park with his first goal of the season.
If it was loud when Guimaraes broke the deadlock, well, the noise went up another octave when the midfielder grabbed his second in the 56th minute.
By that stage, Newcastle were 2-1 up - Jacob Murphy had doubled his side’s advantage with a tap-in in the 28th minute but Ivan Toney pulled one back from the spot in the 54th minute after Dan Burn handled the ball inside the box.
Toney’s goal changed the dynamic of the game after a strangely flat start to the second half from Newcastle but Guimaraes quickly grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck once more.
Just two minutes had passed since Toney’s goal when the Brazilian picked up the ball and drove at Brentford’s defence before firing the ball into the bottom corner with a drilled effort from 25 yards to change the momentum of the game once more.
It was an elite reaction from an elite player.
Was it any wonder Guimaraes left the field to a standing ovation after being replaced by Allan Saint-maximin
in the 78th minute? No other player has scored more goals (seven) for Newcastle since he made his Premier League debut last February and, with Jonjo Shelvey nearing a return, the Brazil international could soon return to his favoured role a little further forward. Now that is a prospect.
NEWCASTLE ARE A TEAM
TRANSFORMED
This fixture was actually Eddie Howe’s first game in charge of Newcastle last season.
Well, sort of. The frustrated Newcastle head coach had to watch the game on a live feed in his hotel room rather than from the touchline after testing positive for Covid on the eve of the game.
A lot has changed at Newcastle since that 3-3 draw - your eyes tell you that before you even look at the metrics - and Brentford boss Thomas Frank was the first to recognise Howe had made the Magpies ‘much more front-foot and aggressive and very dynamic.’ It showed on Saturday.
There were only four survivors in the starting line-up from the corresponding game last season - Fabian Schar, Joe Willock, Jacob Murphy and Callum Wilson - and there was a striking change of mentality to go with the change in personnel as Newcastle forced Brentford into mistakes.
Not only did Newcastle ride out a tricky spell early in the first half, when Bryan Mbeumo had a goal disallowed in the 11th minute, the Magpies did not just simply hold on to what they had after taking the lead like they would have a year ago.
Newcastle instead went in search of a crucial second and Jacob Murphy doubled his side’s advantage just seven minutes after Guimaraes broke the deadlock.
Brentford did pull one back through Toney but Newcastle did not panic and Guimaraes quickly restored his side’s two-goal advantage before Miguel Almiron added a fourth late on and Ethan Pinnock put through his own net in the 90th minute. You suspect not even Newcastle’s owners would have dreamed of an anniversary gift quite like this.
THIS NEWCASTLE SIDE WILL ONLY
GET BETTER
Eddie Howe decided to keep faith with the XI which hammered Fulham a week previously and the Newcastle boss’ decision was soon vindicated. Indeed, it was rather fittingt Murphy scored the hosts’ second after keeping his place in the side - despite Allan Saint-maximin recovering from a hamstring injury. Saint-maximin and fellow substitute Joelinton had both trained all week after their respective injury issues but the pair had to make do with a place on the bench and there is not necessarily a guarantee they will be restored to the starting lineup at Old Trafford next week.
With Jonjo Shelvey and Alexander
Isak also on their way back, all of a sudden Newcastle have real competition for places at a time when Matt Targett and Ryan Fraser can’t even get into the starting line-up when they were once regular starters.
As well as winning back-to-back games for the first time this season, the Magpies have now scored fourplus goals in back-to-back Premier League fixtures for the first time since September, 2001 when Sir Bobby Robson was in charge.
Given the players to come back, scarily, this side will only get better.
IT’S NOT GOING TO BE EASY FOR
ANYONE AT ST JAMES’
There were a smattering of boos at full-time after Newcastle were held to a 1-1 draw by Bournemouth two weeks ago but there was a very different feeling in the air after this win and a very different atmosphere full stop.
That was clear before a ball was even kicked following the return of Wor Flags after the fan group understandably cancelled a planned display last time out as the football world paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II.
They were back on Saturday, though, to mark the one-year anniversary of the takeover with a superb Simon Jordan-inspired ‘deader than a dead thing from dead land’ display in the Gallowgate End.
Newcastle players quickly fed off the energy and noise inside the stadium and you can see why Howe’s side has only lost one Premier League game at home in 2022.
Newcastle are unbeaten in their five home league games this season, the club’s best run of form at St James’ since 2011 when Alan Pardew’s side went on to qualify for Europe.
IVAN TONEY’S EFFORTS ARE IN VAIN
The boos were deafening as Toney waited to step up.
However, for the second year running he scored against his former club at St James’ after the Brentford star sent Nick Pope the wrong way from the spot.
There was no badge-kissing this time, though - Toney quickly grabbed the ball and led his team-mates back for the restart after converting his penalty. It looked like the momentum was with Brentford - but Guimaraes and Newcastle had other ideas.