Make or break day, but not for United as theyTurf out Clarets
FINALLY, a rollercoaster campaign has come to an end for Newcastle United. Although you suspect the 2,350 Geordies in the away end at Turf Moor wished it continued following a 2-1 win against Burnley which sent the Clarets down.
A season which started with Mike Ashley as owner, Steve Bruce as head coach and converted wingers Jacob Murphy and Matt Ritchie playing at full-back ended with hope of a bright future for the Magpies under Eddie Howe and new ownership.
Newcastle will comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, of course, but the Black and Whites are set to show more ambition in the coming months than they had in previous summers combined.
One of Howe’s priorities is to bring in more firepower, but Callum Wilson offered a timely reminder yesterday the club’s top scorer will have a big part to play next season.
As well as opening the scoring from the spot, on 20 minutes, Wilson scored what proved to be a crucial second goal with a superb well-taken finish on the hour mark.
Maxwel Cornet did pull one back for Burnley to set up a nervy finish but the visitors managed to hang on to finish the season in 11th place and send Burnley down after relegation rivals Leeds beat Brentford.
It could have been so different.
Howe had been strapped in to go the whole distance until the final day not so long ago.
Even midfielder Sean Longstaff admitted he previously thought this fixture was going to be a ‘pretty much make or break game’, an effective relegation play-off.
Yet remarkably having been below Burnley in the table at the start of January, even after playing two games more, Newcastle have ended
up accumulating their best points total in eight years despite failing to win any of their opening 14 league fixtures.
Yes, the mid-season window was a game-changer but without the togetherness and work ethic Howe and his staff have fostered, the Magpies may well have still needed to get something from this match yesterday.
Newcastle’s safety, unlike Burnley’s,
had long been assured but Howe’s side were not about to ease off. As Wilson put it before the game, ‘you never want to relegate a team but at the end of the day we have a job to do’.
Wilson, of course, like Howe and his staff, suffered the heartache of relegation on the final day with Bournemouth in 2020, while some of those in the sold-out away end were at Villa Park in 2009 when Newcastle went down on the last day.
You can see then why Howe was not about to do his former side a favour – particularly with a place in the top 10 and prize money still potentially up for grabs.
“We will pick our strongest team,” Howe vowed ahead of the game. “We will try and win the game. There’s no let up from our perspective.
“We’re determined to try and end the season on a high so we will play our strongest team. Tactically we will try and get it right.
“We know Burnley is a very difficult game. It’s a totally different challenge, this game, because of what’s at stake. We know from previous experience we need to be mentally right because it could be a tough day for us if we’re not.”
This was going to be an emotional afternoon for a number of long-serving Newcastle players, who were potentially involved in their final game for the club, but that thought was far from Howe’s mind.
The Magpies boss made just two changes: Kieran Trippier made his start since February as the England international came in for Emil Krafth while captain Jamaal Lascelles
replaced Fabian Schar in the starting line-up after the centre-back took a blow to the head against Arsenal on Monday night.
Newcastle produced their best performance of the season against the Gunners last time out but just as that game, and recent fixtures against Liverpool and Man City, showed how far Howe’s side had come or, indeed, needed to go, so, too, would this trip to Turf Moor.
That may seem a strange statement when Burnley were down near the bottom, and Newcastle had signed the Clarets’ talisman Chris Wood, a few months previously, but Mike Jackson’s side was fighting for tits life and the visitors had to match that intensity.
The last time Newcastle encountered an atmosphere quite as hostile as this, after all, at Goodison Park, back in March, Howe’s team fell below their usual standards and suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat as Everton supporters helped their side over the line.
Clearly, lessons had to be learned from that night because Newcastle needed to start this game as if their Premier League status depended on the outcome of this game to get something from it. That’s how revved up Burnley were.
Indeed, such was the ferocity of Burnley’s start, as the hosts were roared on by a loud support, Newcastle appeared content to simply try and take the sting out of the game by calmly moving the ball around.
That tactic appeared to be working before play was paused after Joelinton
went down with a worrying looking injury in the ninth minute after landing awkwardly after jumping for the ball.
Joelinton had his hands over his face as he was stretchered off to the sound of Newcastle fans singing his chant and Burnley supporters classily applauding him off the field.
Howe threw on substitute Jacob Murphy and switched to a 4-2-3-1 and it was Burnley, rather than Newcastle, who were disrupted by the stoppage.
Bruno Guimaraes fired an early warning shot from the edge of the area in the 16th minute, which goalkeeper Nick Pope could only push behind.
Kieran Trippier stepped up to take the resulting corner and Pope could only flap at it as defender Nathan Collins stuck an arm up to flick the ball behind. VAR intervened and referee Craig Pawson went over to watch a replay of the incident before pointing to the spot in the 20th minute.
It was a long wait for Wilson, who was roundly booed as he stepped up, but the striker coolly dispatched the spot kick straight down the middle to put Newcastle in front and silence the home fans.
The atmosphere inside Turf Moor changed in an instant and only the away end could be heard as they serenaded the Newcastle number nine.
Burnley supporters, in contrast, were stunned and repeatedly erupted from there on in whenever a refereeing decision went against them.
That suited Newcastle just fine and Burnley did not even have a shot in anger until the 38th minute when Dwight McNeil fired harmlessly over the bar from long range. Newcastle, instead, had a glorious opportunity to double their advantage with what would have been a killer second goal right before half-time as Matt Targett slipped Allan Saint-Maximin in down the left - but the Frenchman’s effort was saved by Pope. It was a letoff for Burnley.
The hosts had it all to do after the break and although Jackson introduced Wout Weghorst from the bench, it was Newcastle who looked the likelier scorers as Burnley left gaps pouring forward.
Sure enough, Wilson grabbed that crucial second goal on the hour mark with a superb first-time finish after Saint-Maximin picked him out inside the area following a clinical breakaway.
It was hard to see a way back for Burnley at that point as the home fans fell deathly silent, but Newcastle allowed the Clarets back into the game just nine minutes later.
Collins found it too easy to drift past Saint-Maximin and the centreback’s low cross found Maxwel Cornet.
Although Cornet’s initial effort was parried by Dubravka, the striker had all the time he needed to follow up on the volley to give Burnley fans hope.
Burnley fans found their voice and, suddenly, the momentum was with the hosts.
Cornet, Weghorst and James Tarkowski went mightily close to levelling late on - but ultimately Newcastle hung on to relegate the Clarets.