As heavy rains poured down on a cold afternoon in Tyneside, it became clear why Saudi Arabia’s tourism ministry sees potential for successful vacations in their newly established resorts on the Red Sea Coast, particularly in the north-east region of England. While the ambitious project may still seem far-fetched, the possibility of Eddie Howe leading Newcastle’s Saudi owners on a tour in Europe appeared more achievable at 5pm compared to two hours prior.
At the end of the game, Newcastle had moved ahead of Wolves and moved up to seventh place in the Premier League. This put them in a good position to possibly qualify for the Europa League. Additionally, the team’s win at home and their first clean sheet of the season helped to restore confidence in their defensive skills and their coach, Howe.
Although they had a lot of time with the ball in the first half, Wolves found themselves trailing by two goals at half-time. Fabian Schär and Anthony Gordon led a strong counterattack, and Alexander Isak was perfectly positioned to head in a deflected cross from Bruno Guimarães. This resulted in a goal for Wolves, with José Sá unable to stop it.
When Jacob Murphy made a low cross from the right, Sá and Max Kilman experienced a complete breakdown in communication on defense. The goalkeeper was only able to deflect the ball into Gordon’s path, and had to watch in horror as the winger, who had played a key role in causing chaos for Wolves, scored a goal.
Newcastle, after allowing 12 goals in their last four matches, had surprisingly adopted a more conservative strategy which seemed to be working in their favor. Howe had orchestrated his team to play in a defensive manner, with the goal of shutting down their opponents and attacking on the counter. This tactic completely baffled their opponents, who appeared to be struggling with fatigue.
Guimarães played well in central midfield and a patched-up Joe Willock brought energy to the team after his long absence due to injury. Wolves faced a challenge, but Gary O’Neil came on for Sá and Pedro Neto was replaced by Daniel Bentley and Nathan Fraser during the halftime break. Despite an improvement in their performance and some good saves by Martin Dubravka in the second half, the substitutions were not enough to alter the outcome significantly.
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To highlight this point, Tino Livramento, substituting for the injured Kieran Trippier, scored a brilliant solo goal in the final moments of the game. Livramento skillfully evaded three defenders after receiving a pass from Schär.
Newcastle hinted that they may have overcome their difficult winter despite the inclement weather.
Source: theguardian.com
