Sunday Sun

Poor display but result is all that matters as away form lifts United

Huddersfie­ld 0 Newcastle 1

- Chris Waugh NUFC writer chris.waugh@ncjmedia.co.uk

NEWCASTLE United recorded a precious victory against relegation rivals Huddersfie­ld Town at the John Smith’s Stadium in order to move six points clear of the drop zone.

Following a dour first half, Salomon Rondon capped off an excellent counter-attack after the break to score Newcastle’s winning goal.

Ayoze Perez also wrongly saw an effort disallowed for offside, although Jamaal Lascelles was perhaps fortunate to avoid a red card during the first half, and Newcastle are now up to 14th in the Premier League table.

Here, NUFC Writer Chris Waugh takes us through what we learned from a very important day in the context of Newcastle’s season as a whole...

1. AN ANOMALY WINS THE GAME FOR NEWCASTLE

There were two anomalies in this game – and both of them ended up with Newcastle having the ball in the back of the net, even if only one of those goals counted.

For the majority of the match, the Magpies were awful in possession and simply could not keep the ball, never mind construct a decent attack.

Yet all of that changed just before the hour mark when the visitors scored a picture-perfect counter-attacking goal.

Martin Dubravka played a risky ball to Jamaal Lascelles, who cut it back to Fabian Schar, and the Swiss defender then dinked a ball down the rightwing.

Perez controlled well before playing in the overlappin­g Javier Manquillo, who calmly slotted a low cross for Rondon to finish past a helpless Jonas Lossl.

It was an attack with precision and accuracy, which was the complete opposite of the rest of Newcastle’s performanc­e in possession.

When Christian Atsu then megged a Huddersfie­ld defender before sending Perez through on goal 10 minutes later, only for the United forward to be incorrectl­y called offside, that was almost a mirror image of the Magpies’

goal. Take away those two moments, and Newcastle created very little – but, given the final result, that matters little in the context of the relegation battle.

2. FERNANDEZ IS MISSED, BUT NEWCASTLE SHOW THEIR DEFENSIVE STRENGTH ON THE ROAD AGAIN

In the 13 games summer signing Federico Fernandez has played this season, he has more often than not been the Magpies’ most-consistent performer.

With the Argentine missing due to the calf injury which forced him off at half-time during the defeat to Wolverhamp­ton Wanderers last weekend, Rafa Benitez brought Schar – who had served his one-match suspension – back into the three-man centraldef­ence.

Lascelles and Ciaran Clark partnered Schar, with Kenedy deputising at left-wing-back, and Manquillo replacing the suspended Deandre Yedlin on the other flank.

Interestin­gly, Matt Ritchie dropped to the bench, while Jacob Murphy returned to the squad and Paul Dummett was also named as a substitute, with Benitez seemingly determinin­g that the Welshman is better as a leftback rather than as a wing-back.

But the big miss was always going to be Fernandez, and Newcastle’s success or otherwise was going to be decided by how they coped without the experience­d centre-back.

Although Newcastle did not concede and performed pretty well defensivel­y, the Magpies did appear to miss the organisati­onal skills of Fernandez.

Schar was not quite as dependable as he usually is alongside the Argentine, Lascelles had a couple of rash moments – with only Clark performing consistent­ly during the game.

Kenedy, meanwhile, really struggled at left-wing-back, with Huddersfie­ld actively targeting that side, and Manquillo was sometimes exposed down the other flank, too.

In theory, three at the back is a formation which can serve Newcastle well long term, but it needs proper wing-backs and Fernandez or Florian Lejeune there for it to really work to its maximum.

3. KENEDY’S LACK OF FORM REMAINS A CONCERN

During the second half of last season, loan signing Kenedy was Newcastle’s most-creative player – and he fully justified Benitez’s decision to sign him.

That’s why in the summer fans were so excited when Newcastle renewed his loan for the campaign.

Yet the Brazilian has simply failed to reach the heights of last term – and, in fact, he has been pretty average for most of the campaign.

The 22-year-old was admittedly playing slightly out of position as a leftwing-back at the John Smith’s Stadium, but it is a role he has performed for Chelsea before.

Given his pace and ability to counter-attack, such a position should suit the 22-year-old but, particular­ly during the first half against Huddersfie­ld, Kenedy was extremely poor.

As well as regularly coughing up possession, the Terriers actively targeted Kenedy, who appeared lost at times having to cover back.

With Newcastle still shorn of ingenuity in attack, it is essential that Kenedy – who has just one goal and one assist to his name this season – finds his best form again.

Otherwise Newcastle will have been justified in refusing to pay Chelsea’s £20million-plus asking price for the wideman last summer.

4. NEWCASTLE REALLY ARE MORE AT HOME ON THE ROAD

At Benitez’s pre-match Press conference, the Spaniard admitted for the very first time that his side probably is better suited to playing away from home, rather than at St James’ Park.

In seven league matches on the road before this game in 2018/19, Newcastle had only lost twice – at Manchester United and Manchester City – and had collected three goalless draws against their immediate relegation rivals.

The statistics appear to support the Newcastle manager’s theory that his side are more comfortabl­e on their travels, although it must be noted that the Magpies had in fact only won one of their previous 10 away matches.

With the onus on the opposition to take the initiative, it allows Newcastle to exploit gaps away from home. At St James,’ however, United struggle to break down sides who head to Tyneside and set-up in a defensive shape.

Although Newcastle’s loss record on the road is decent, they struggle to score many, and for the first 45 minutes at the John Smith’s Stadium the Magpies were very poor.

In reality, a point on the road – in convention­al circumstan­ces at least – would have been seen as a positive.

But the issue is that Newcastle simply cannot win enough of their home games at the moment, so they need more than a draw on their travels to make up for that.

That is why this victory was so vital. It was merely Newcastle’s second on their travels this term, and only their fourth in all.

5. THE FIRST HALF OF NEWCASTLE’S FESTIVE CUP FINAL IS COMPLETE

Benitez rightly noted that Newcastle’s back-to-back matches against Huddersfie­ld and Fulham in the buildup to Christmas were “massive cup finals” for the Magpies.

Sitting just three points above the Terriers and the relegation zone heading into this match, United have now gone six clear of the bottom three.

Should they overcome Fulham next weekend, then Newcastle will suddenly be looking up the table once again, rather than down towards the drop zone.

Given they started the season with a 10-game winless run, few could have predicted they would find themselves in this position pre-christmas.

What we learned from this match

 ??  ?? Fabian Schar and Laurent Depoitre
Fabian Schar and Laurent Depoitre
 ??  ?? ■ Kenedy of Newcastle United is
■ Kenedy of Newcastle United is
 ??  ?? challenged by Florent Hadergjona­j
challenged by Florent Hadergjona­j

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