Today, in the 4th game of the season, Newcastle took on Arsenal at St James’ Park on the back of a well-earned draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford. McClaren started Summer new boys Mitrovic, Thauvin and Mbemba together for the first time since they arrived, while Daryl Janmaat returned from suspension.
In a highly controversial game, the final score was 1-0 to Arsenal. We learned a lot throughout this game, so here’s five things we took away upon watching it:
Andre Marriner loves cards
Since becoming a referee in 2005, Andre Marriner has taken charge of 204 competitive matches, showing 677 yellow cards and 43 red cards in the process. That’s an average of 3.7 yellow cards per game, and a red card every five games. He loves showing cards, and particularly against Newcastle. In the first 30 minutes of the game, Newcastle had picked up three yellow cards and a red. Perhaps Sissoko and Thauvin’s yellow cards were justified, but Mbemba’s articulated the inconsistency of Premier League referees. Sanchez performed a similar challenge and was let off. Marriner also showed Anita and Wijnaldum cards later on. Mitrovic’s red card has infuriated many. It’s safe to say that Marriner’s love for dishing out cards has angered some Geordies tonight.
Our defensive organisation has improved
Since Steve McClaren has joined the club, our defensive organisation has massively improved. The signing of Mbemba has helped, but it is McClaren’s abilities as a coach that deserve the most credit. Last season, Newcastle would have been two or three goals down by half-time, but we did brilliantly to keep it at goalless for so long with 10 men. We continued our defensive form from the game at Old Trafford and looked very solid throughout. Coloccini was terribly unlucky with the goal and he & Mbemba had a brilliant game.
Tim Krul is back!
Tim Krul didn’t have the best of seasons last year and everyone hoped that this would be the year that he returns to his former self. It’s early in the season, but it looks as if the old Tim Krul is back. He made some amazing saves against Manchester United last week and, today, he continued that. Without his terrific saves, today could have been much worse for the Toon. He stopped Walcott, Sanchez and Ramsey multiple times in today’s game. You could see he was oozing confidence and it looks as if he’s rediscovered his old self.
We lack the ability to control the game
Hear me out. I really like Colback and Anita, but do they possess the ability to control the game and improve our fluidity? No, I don’t think so. Before the sending off, we were on the back foot already and that’s something I didn’t want to see. We were at home, on the back of two great performances, so why didn’t we start off the game on the front foot – and show no fear? I think Steve McClaren would’ve done that, but he couldn’t. Colback and Anita are great battlers, but they aren’t a Wanyama, a Schneiderlin, a Matic. These players act as anchormen and all attacks flow through them. Newcastle need someone like that, who has the ability to break down opposition attacks and start an attack for their own team. Colback and Anita lack that extra intelligence and positioning to be able to do that and that’s preventing us from dominating games.
Mbemba is a beast
What a signing this man has been. He can do everything – tackle, jump, dribble, pass and the ability to shut out opposition strikers with ease. We saw last week at Old Trafford that he has the ability to play right-back if needs be, but his best position is at centre-back. Wenger threw a spanner in the works by starting Theo Walcott up front, but Mbemba completely shut him out of the game and that ended up with him being taken off in the second half. The Chancellor out-muscled and outran Walcott, and when Giroud came on he also kept him quiet. Mbemba only cost us £8.5million and has already proven his worth to the club by stringing together fantastic performances against two Premier League giants.
