Joe Buck dissects Newcastle United's chaotic 4-4 draw with Luton Town. Goals from Sean Longstaff, Kieran Trippier and Harvey Barnes were not enough as they shared eight goals and the points with the Hatters.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 I think the only way you can sum up that game is chaotic. It was a mental, mental game.
00:08 Newcastle United 4, Leucon Town 4. Where to begin, where to begin. Newcastle took the
00:13 lead after 6 minutes, shown non-staff scored. A good goal, to be fair, good goal. And you
00:20 think at that point that Newcastle have got the game in control, they've done that. We've
00:25 seen them against Crystal Palace for example, against Burnley, against teams that should
00:29 be beating their own. They've scored early and then just controlled proceedings. That
00:33 never happened today, never happened. Luton equalised with a good header from a free kick.
00:39 That was a good goal to be fair. Newcastle feel like they should have defended that better
00:42 but then almost, what was it, 2-3 minutes later, Longstaff gets his second. A great
00:47 break from Anthony Gordon, his shot was saved straight at the palm of feet of Longstaff
00:52 and Longstaff puts it in the bottom corner. And a 2-1, again, you go in thinking Newcastle
00:56 have got in control of this game. You're thinking that this is their chance to really stamp
01:00 their authority on the match but that doesn't happen. Luton get an equaliser before half-time.
01:08 Ross Barkley, yeah, Ross Barkley had his sixth goal against Newcastle. Most, he scored against
01:13 any other team in his career and it was almost expected. Ross Barkley, he had a great game
01:17 at Kelmouth Road against Newcastle and he had another good game today. They went in
01:20 2-2 half-time and you think Newcastle, right, all they have to do is come out the second
01:24 half, control proceedings a little bit more, make it less chaotic. Newcastle are good when
01:27 it's chaotic but they need to make it less chaotic this time. They need to control the
01:30 game. But within 10-15 minutes Eddie Howe's plan was completely wiped out. Luton went
01:35 4-2 up. First a penalty, Dan Byrne was conceived that penalty. He had a real tough game today.
01:41 Really disappointed this way from Dan Byrne with his expectation he sent. And then almost
01:46 as soon as that penalty goes in, Luton are then 4-2 up and you wonder how Newcastle's
01:51 control of the game completely slipped. Well, you don't wonder because Newcastle were never
01:53 in control. But it was one of the ones where Newcastle were disappointed with the way they
01:56 went 4-2 behind. But they responded well, got their hand out to them. First key on Trippier,
02:01 scored a bit. It was a fantastic assist from Bruno Guimara. He's outside the blue cross
02:06 where we played time and time again. It's one like Kevin De Bruyne I would be happy
02:10 with and that was a great finish up Trippier and you think 4-3, here we go. And then Harvey
02:15 Barnes on his first appearance back after a long injury he's been out since September,
02:20 he picks up the ball, edge of the box and side foot, left foot shot in the bottom corner.
02:24 It was a brilliant finish from Barnes to be fair. And at that point you think 4-4, they've
02:28 got about 15 minutes of normal time to go. You think Newcastle are going to go on a win.
02:31 But to be fair to Luton, they haven't resisted strong and they could have even won it at
02:35 the end. At the end of the day Newcastle have to settle for a point and they'll be very
02:40 disappointed with that. Luton played very, very well and they were very good value for
02:43 the point actually. I don't want to lay about too much on Newcastle at this point because
02:47 Luton were very, very good. They're almost shades of Nottingham Forest back in boxing
02:50 day. They performed really well. They went man for man against Newcastle and really won
02:53 their battles and were really, really good. You've got to hand it Rob Edwards' side. They
02:58 didn't look over-awed by playing at St James' Park, they looked very much at home and they've
03:01 been a breath of fresh air at the Premier League this year and that game just sums it
03:04 up. Newcastle though will be disappointed, it's yet another game. But the fatal win at
03:08 St James' Park, they now haven't won since the 16th of December in that game against
03:12 Fulham. The next time they play here will be against Bournemouth. They'll have gone
03:16 over two months without a win here so that will be a disappointment for Eddie Howe's
03:18 side. They were really impressed at the beginning of the season with their home-four man last
03:24 year so they'll be disappointed that they haven't won today against Luton Town. It's
03:28 one that Eddie Howe's side have got to regroup, they've got to go and find a way to try and
03:33 control games because that was the main theme of this game, they just had no control, it
03:38 was chaos. They were just physically dominated by Luton, well Luton were very good physically,
03:46 very good tactically and Eddie Howe's side didn't really have an answer, they didn't
03:49 really control the game at all. And of course we've got to talk about Anthony Gordon, he
03:53 had a brilliant first half but he went substituted at half-time. He did look like he was struggling
03:56 with an injury going into half-time so hopefully he's not going to be out too long because
04:01 that's another attack injury they did not need. Alexander Leeds that of course missed
04:06 the game, Callum Wilson did come on for him at half-time, it was good to see Callum Wilson
04:09 back in the pitch but we all know his injury record, we all know Anthony Gordon's been
04:12 very reliable this year in terms of fitness, he's barely missed any games through injury
04:17 so let's hope his injury isn't too bad and let's hope Newcastle can really bounce back
04:21 from this because it's another chaotic day at St James' Park, another game, Newcastle
04:26 feel like they'll win and unable to capitalise on their win in mid-week but they have got
04:31 Nottingham Forest next weekend and Bournemouth at home so they do feel like they will have
04:35 chances in the next couple of games to pick up points but they can't afford too many more
04:38 defeats certainly not, or drop points at home because that race for Europe is soon going
04:43 to get out of their control and out of their hands and then they could be facing the prospect
04:46 of no European football next year but right now Newcastle United just have to regroup
04:53 from that game and hope that they use the lessons from that and realise that Luton were
04:58 very good value for them for their draw and yeah Newcastle just need to regroup ahead
05:03 of next week and try and learn to control these games because it's becoming a real issue
05:08 with the club at the minute so yeah Newcastle United 4, Luton Town 4, sorry for rambling
05:12 but it was just one of those games where I think it could talk about forever.