Palace 1-1 Newcastle: Toothless Toon get what they deserve after Guehi own goal
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6 – 8 minutes
A brutal end to a bad week for Newcastle United, who were 90 seconds from victory before a stoppage-time equaliser from Daniel Munoz drew Crystal Palace level after Marc Guehi’s own goal.
It wasn’t a classic as we looked toothless in attack once again, but it’s a huge blow to concede so late, denying us of back-to-back away wins and the result we’d been crying out for after Monday’s 2-0 defeat at home to West Ham. A massive shame and arguably the result Palace deserved following a flurry of missed chances after we took a 1-0 lead.
Yes, we were just over a minute from a precious three points, but we managed just ONE shot to Palace’s 16 and zero shots on goal. Against a side who started the day second bottom in the league, that isn’t good enough and must improve drastically.
Eddie Howe made two changes, seeing Dan Burn and Sandro Tonali replace Lloyd Kelly and Sean Longstaff. For the hosts, star man Ebere Eze returned after missing Palace’s last three league games.
It was a scrappy start and interesting to see Tonali starting in the No.6 role, meaning Bruno was in a slightly more advanced role on the right of our midfield three.
As both sides wrestled for possession and control of a scruffy, stop-start game in the opening 20 minutes, we suffered a number of knocks as Willock (foot), Isak (hip) and Joelinton (shoulder) all went down needing treatment. The biggest concern was Isak, who was forced off early and replaced by Harvey Barnes after failing to recover from an early whack to the hip.
This saw Gordon move into a central role up top, Joelinton remain on the left and Barnes come in down the right; a role he’s rarely played across his time with Leicester or Newcastle. In midfield, our build-up play from deep suffered slightly with Bruno in a more advanced role, but Tonali had started the game well from a defensive point of view as a couple of quick recovery runs helped cut out Palace attacks.
In the final third, though, we were struggling to really click or build any patterns of play, with not much coming off for the two Joe’s down our left and a couple of set pieces coming to nothing before Palace created the game’s first big chance 35 minutes in as a quick counter and ball across the box from Sarr was somehow fired wide by Munoz at the back post.
We didn’t test Fabianski once in the second half of Monday’s 2-0 defeat to West Ham and it was a similar theme in the first 45 here, where Palace stopper Dean Henderson didn’t have a thing to do aside from gathering a low Barnes cross a few minutes before the break.
A poor first half from both sides, where we were lacking quality or cohesion in attack and fortunate to go in at the break level given Munoz’s big miss. We had 57% of the ball and Hall continued to look sharp at left-back, but with just one shot and zero on target, it was a tough watch and match crying out for someone to take it by the scruff of the neck in the second 45.
Thankfully, we came out from the break with a bit more urgency and purpose to our play – and we were soon rewarded. After winning a free-kick down the right, Hall went short to Tonali and the Italian’s angled pass found Gordon on the overlap as he burst into the box. The angle was tight but Gordon’s fizzed ball across the goalmouth was bundled in by summer target Marc Guehi, who gave us our first ‘shot’ on target and a 1-0 lead!
The perfect response to a poor first half and a goal enjoyed by a packed out away end who created a worrying pile-on onto the advertising hoardings as Gordon led the celebrations.
10 minutes later and Palace should’ve equalised. Sarr snuck in down the left and had his effort blocked well by Pope, then we had Burn to thank seconds later as the big man from Blyth blocked Munoz’s effort from sneaking in at the near post. A fortunate escape that reignited the home crowd before Eze was forced off minutes later after lasting 65 minutes on his first game back from injury.
We needed to regain some control after a period of Palace pressure pushed us back. Guehi was the next to go close after his header flew over Pope’s bar and Schar then stepped up with a superb saving tackle to stop Mateta from pulling the trigger. After another Sarr effort was tipped wide by Pope, Mateta was the next to fire over as he couldn’t keep his shot down from six yards from the resulting corner.
An equaliser was coming if we didn’t turn the tide and Howe responded with two changes, as the booked duo of Gordon and Willock were replaced by Wilson and Longstaff with 15 minutes to play, giving us fresh legs in midfield and a focal point up top.
As the clock passed the 80th minute, we still hadn’t tested Henderson with a shot of our own – we’d had just ONE all game – but a couple of free kicks and a flurry of corners won helped run down the clock as we approached the 90-minute mark.
Tonali was the standout player and came on strong just as others were starting to tire, whether it be his ability to snuff out danger quickly or get to loose balls first, but our resistance broke in stoppage time as Palace equalised in the 94th-minute. Guehi was the provider and Munoz the scorer, with the Colombian heading in at the back post to deny us the win. An absolute sickener and the first points we’ve dropped after taking the lead all season, but it’s no more than what we deserved on the balance of play.
Next up, top of the table Liverpool at St James’ Park on Wednesday before a trip to Brentford – who battered Leicester today – next Saturday. HWTL.
Newcastle XI: Pope – Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall – Tonali, Guimaraes, Willock – Gordon, Isak, Joelinton. SUBS: Dubravka, Kelly, Osula, Longstaff, Almiron, Wilson, Barnes, Murphy, Trippier.
Crystal Palace XI: Henderson – Chalobah, Lacroix, Guehi – Muñoz, Hughes, Lerma, Mitchell – Sarr, Eze – Mateta. SUBS: Turner, Ward, Clyne, Richards, Kporha, Schlupp, Doucouré, Devenny, Nketiah.
