It ended Burnley 1 Newcastle 3.
Before each match, we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives after the match.
An interesting game on Turf Moor…
Enough to talk about.
On this occasion it is The Armchair Fan.
POSITIVE
Result
Newcastle won the match 3-1 and that is honestly the (only) most important thing.
This was really a must-win game for a number of reasons and I would have settled for a sloppy 1-0.
Ultimately it was an entertaining match from start to finish with a number of chances for both teams and – crucially – three points for the Toon.
Goals, goals, goals
Three or more goals in a league match for the second time in the entire season.
Wild celebrations in the stands were repeated in my living room as the Toon threatened to go crazy!
In fact, this was the fastest we have ever gone 2-0 up in a Premier League match, with Joelinton and Wissa both on the scoresheet in the opening six minutes.
Brilliant stuff, let’s have more of the same on Sunday.
Back with a bang
How good was it to see Joelinton back in the starting line-up?
Almost as good as when he opened the scoring after just sixty-six seconds.
His physicality has been missed of late and he made an immediate impact upon his return.
NEGATIVES
Crisis during the match
We don’t know how to make ourselves uncomfortable!
With the 2-0 lead we should have been cruising and attacking at will, but instead we let Burnley back into the game and were almost punished with what would have been a catastrophic equalizer.
A better team than Burnley would have punished us despite the early two-goal advantage and that is one of the reasons why we dropped so many points by gaining positions.
Performance
What was going on in that second half?!
At one point I looked through my fingers!
We applied far too much pressure and had to push our luck to an alarming degree. Fortunately, when Nick Pope was beaten, the ball bounced back off the crossbar, but this was a tough watch with the final whistle greeted with relief rather than euphoria.
League table
Despite the victory, we are still stuck around the middle of the table. If we take European qualification seriously (especially for the Champions League), this should be the start of a series of victories that will propel us to the higher reaches of the rankings.
#positive #negative #points #Burnley #Newcastle