• yesterday
Joe Buck reacts to Newcastle United's 1-0 defeat against Brighton at St James' Park. Eddie Howe's side were defeated by a sole Danny Welbeck goal.
Transcript
00:00So Newcastle United suffered their first home defeat of the season, being defeated 1-0 here
00:06against Brighton. Danny Welbeck's goal was the only goal of the game to score all three
00:11points for Fabian Hurtzler's side. I think frustration is the key word today. I think
00:15a lot of fans leaving the ground here will be frustrated, not just at Newcastle's performance,
00:20I think there's some referee decisions and a bit of frustration that they didn't actually
00:26put their chances away when they created them. It was a real frustrating afternoon for Newcastle
00:29and it started off so positively with the news that Alexander Isak was back from injury
00:33and that Miss Miley was named on the bench for the first time since March. Newcastle
00:37headed the game pretty confident and pretty full of bodies, obviously with Callum Wilson
00:40still out and the long-term absentees, Jamal Azar, Sven Botman and obviously Kieran Trippie
00:44as well. But other than that, you feel like Newcastle are getting their cohort of players
00:47together and they're fairly strong. Now it's obviously probably the strongest side any
00:50hand could have named. To be fair, for the first 30 minutes or so, they did really well,
00:56they were on top, they looked sharp, they looked like a team that had two weeks to
01:00put their disappointment of Everton behind them and really give Brighton a good go. Brighton
01:05barely had the ball and barely had any territory and Newcastle dominated and really should
01:08have scored early on. Although it didn't really test Bartford Rugger in goal, they had enough
01:13of the ball and enough ordnance to feel like they should have done something with it. But
01:18as I say, Danny Welbeck's goal came completely against a run of play, it was a long goal
01:21by Lewis Dunk. Welbeck's chested down, plays a nice little one-two and Pogba's at home.
01:26It was a soft goal from Newcastle conceded, one that we're really, really frustrated with,
01:29especially as I said against a run of play, that was Brighton's first shot of the afternoon.
01:33And then it felt like they certainly didn't deserve to go 1-0 behind, but of course, you
01:36know, if you don't take your chances and the opposition score that, that's what happens
01:39and they'll feel frustrated that they went in at half-time 1-0 down. Especially Alexander
01:44Isak missed a couple of gilt-edged opportunities, Anthony Gomez on the second half should have
01:49gone through. But yeah, Isak, it was weird, like obviously he started for the first time,
01:53broken toe, and it didn't, he looked a little bit rusty, a little bit like he has all season
01:57to be honest, he was in and out of the game. But when he had chances, he just couldn't
02:00really, he just didn't take them one-on-one against Verbruggen, he just shot straight
02:04at the keeper. And you know, last season he probably takes it around, slots it in, or
02:10finishes it. I think every time Isak goes through, especially last year, he never doubted
02:13he'd score, but there was a feeling of doubt this time and it proved, you know, proved
02:18right. Gordon, in the second half, he had a chance, one-on-one, he just couldn't get
02:22a shot away and it was easily saved by the keeper. And to be honest, I thought Newcastle
02:25was, whole game really, a lot of frustration, created some nice openings at times, had some
02:30nice, little bit of nice play, but never really, you know, had that creative instinct just
02:35to unlock the defence at the crucial moments. And yeah, Brighton held on fairly comfortably
02:39in the end really, other than a couple of chances. As I said, it was just a frustrating
02:43day. I think Eddie Howe would have been frustrated with his team's performance, a lot of Newcastle
02:47players would have been frustrated on the pitch there. I think Lewis Hall, he played
02:51fairly well, he was probably Newcastle's man of the match, or he's Newcastle's man of the
02:55match. Joel Linton had a good 30 minutes in the second half, Fabian Scherr and Dan Byrne
02:59did alright to be fair, a couple of hairy moments, but they did okay. Other than that,
03:04there's not too many Newcastle players anyway that can walk off that pitch with a lot of,
03:10you know, thinking they've done well. And yeah, I think it was just a frustrating day
03:14for Newcastle after that. You sort of give them a little bit, obviously Man City last
03:18time here in the league, that was a good result against Everton, they felt like they should
03:21have won, so you give them that little bit of credit, you think, right, if they can beat
03:24Brighton at home, then those two results sort of, you know, five points for them, three
03:28games, but now it's up to two points for them, three games. Brighton are now three
03:31points ahead of them in the league, you know, they're slightly losing gap against the teams
03:36above them, and obviously we've got Chelsea, Arsenal and Forest to come before the next
03:39international break. They're three very tough games, and of course the Chelsea-Carabao Cup
03:42game, things could, you know, very quickly start to unravel, but that's not going to
03:46well ahead, but I think today they'll reflect on the game well. They'll be disappointed,
03:50and there'll be probably 50-odd thousand people disappointed in Newcastle. And you
03:54don't really say that a lot about any house team, especially during this time as Newcastle
03:58manager, you know, there's not many times I think they're disappointed, but there were
04:02a day, I think, obviously that is their first home defeat since Manchester City back in
04:06January, obviously a couple of weeks before that they got beat by Nottingham Forest on
04:09Boxing Day, and that was really, I think this game was probably more, it was quite
04:13like that game, I think they'll be very frustrated. Brighton played well, I mean, did they really
04:18exploit Newcastle's weaknesses in any way? Did they dominate? Not really, they just defended
04:21well. You know, they deserve the win, because if you win a game, you deserve to win the
04:26game. But yeah, Newcastle will be disappointed, and it'll be one to reflect on over the week
04:31before they make the trip to Stamford Bridge, because as I said, three games in a week,
04:35next week is going to be a very big week for them. And they have to get over it, they
04:39have to bounce back quickly, they'll hope some of their key players can get back to
04:43full, you know, proper form. As I said, East Anglia took up chances, Gordon didn't really
04:46look himself, hasn't really looked himself all season. So there's a few players in there
04:50who have levels of drop since last year, and it's a shame to say that, and they'll hope
04:54that they can get them levels back up, because really neither, as I said, it's a frustrating
04:59day for Newcastle, and one, yeah, that they'll reflect on, and hope behind them when they
05:05face Chelsea next week. But as I said, you know, frustrating day for Newcastle, one nil
05:10Brighton here, Danny Welbeck's goal was the only goal of the game, and yeah, Eddie Housside
05:16defeated for the first time this season at home, the second Premier League defeat of
05:19the season. And yeah, they're suffering prolificacy up front, again, having scored from one place
05:26on September 21st, a couple penalties in there. Yeah, it's a worry up front, one they'll
05:30have to put right next week.

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