Happy Newcastle 4 Arsenal 4 everyone!
Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of possibly the craziest match in Premier League history. A match we will never forget.
(It’s also exactly one year since Newcastle 2 Arsenal 0, which sent United through to the 2025 Carabao Cup final…)
This is a piece that Jamie Swan wrote at the time, to commemorate the Newcastle 4 Arsenal 4 match, it contains the highlights of the match, all eight goals…:
Join me on a short trip down memory lane to remember a day that epitomized everything that is great about football.
Newcastle United took on the North London Gunners the week after the sale of a certain Andrew Carroll for £35 million without a replacement in the squad.
A performance without the Gateshead Bull was crucial for everyone involved. Believe me; many on the terraces were deeply concerned. Especially at twenty-six minutes past three! I don’t know what exactly happened… but it seemed that the Newcastle United players had wrongly assumed the match started at 2:30 and had somehow failed to get out of the tunnel to start. Either that, or they had all been playing musical statues, because when the music stopped before the match, they all froze!
The boys stood like black and white rabbits in the headlights of an approaching juggernaut, watching the Wenger Boys score goals at will. As a four-nil deficit after 26 minutes would suggest! Damn hell!
The players appeared shocked as they staggered blindfolded in front of the Gunners’ firing squad. The way it went, I think a few fans would have happily taken a bullet to end the misery! Boy, did we suffer. From minute one the sign was on the cards for one of those days you dread. In fact, that’s not true: sixty seconds had not even passed when 52,000 hearts collectively sank.
Walcott scores Arsenal’s first – ah b.llocks man – after 44 seconds. Djourou after 3 minutes with an unmarked header – ah double b.llocks man. Robin Van Persie in 10 minutes – Dear Jesus, Mary and Joseph NO! And just in case we had plans to enjoy the match, RVP struck again after 26 minutes – the rumblings of discontent began to spill out. For some it was all too much.
We were everywhere, the danger signals were there for a record-breaking defeat. I started calculating in my head that if we continued at that pace it would end up around thirteen zero! Fortunately, Stevie Harper prevented a certain goal and an RVP hat-trick before half time. I can’t imagine what would have been going through the players’ minds if that had happened in break five?
By hook or by crook we managed to reach peace without losing further ground. The Arsenal players were all smiles and smug claps on the back. Job done, you might think. No one comes back from that, especially not when it has been such a one-sided battle. If it had been a boxing match, the towel would have been thrown on the field long before the half-time whistle had blown.
Luckily, like a storyline straight out of Hollywood Blockbuster ‘Rocky’, the underdog always has his day. NUFC had been overrun as battlers in the opening rounds by four unanswered haymakers, but when they emerged from the tunnel for the second half bloodied, battered and bruised, the boys staggered, indeed staggered out with a steely look in their eyes that betrayed not a sense of aching in the limbs – but a dented sense of professional pride.
Issue 256 – March 5, 2011
I think the attitude that could only be applied was that of winning the second half for the fans and for themselves. Regain some semblance of credit and worth in the eyes of their adoring public. Vanquished were the frozen rabbits, and in came the fearless tigers who suddenly began to make Arsenal think they were not going to get everything their way.
The experienced players grew and began to bully the once confident, all too weak Arsenal. Tackles flew in and the crowd slowly started to ramp it up like only SJP can. This pressure resulted in a red card for Arsenal after a very hard (but fair) tackle by Joseph Barton on Abou Diaby (50). The Frenchman rose from the tackle and simply grabbed Barton around the neck. The referee saw it and gave the red light. Goodbye Diabi. What had been a walk for the Gooners now turned pear-shaped. Good old Arsène had started fiddling with the zipper of his jacket and complained about every decision.
The North London crowd began to retreat under the cosh, the Lads, paying their respects, really turning the screw. The spirit grew and we tackled our stubborn opponent four times in response in a hectic and incredible second half. Newcastle United were about to make history…
GOAL – Barton penalty (68). Get in dude! Four – one. Captain Kevin Nolan gets Arsenal’s number 1 in a headlock to retrieve the ball. The Gooners players yearn in vain for a mutual red card. Certainly not?
GOAL – Best (73). Come on UNITED! Four – two. Leon comes in after good work on the left.
GOAL –Barton penalty (83). Questionable distinction, but who gives a shot? Four three men, COME ON!
What follows is why football remains a beautiful thing and the ultimate live theater. Nothing can reproduce the raw emotion of what was about to happen. Tiote was about to do something he had never done before, in a moment that is now seared into the memories of every living Newcastle fan. We all walk this earth now with the burned image of our Ivorian Cheick shooting into the bottom corner with his left foot, past an incredulous Szczesny.
SJP explodes! Like Tiote, who runs the length of the field, his teammates give chase before he is felled and piled up by teammates. We had fought back to take Arsenal down with our own unanswered blows. The final blow had left Arsenal stunned on the canvas, with heads spinning in disbelief. But wait, we have about 5 minutes left. COME ON UNITED!!!!
Incredibly, after being knocked out on the count, United were now chasing the knockout. Then for an excruciating moment the crowd took a collective breath as the ball fell to Nolan, who whistled a shot just past the right post. Christ on the bike, we almost won it. Wenger was now on his knees vomiting into a bucket on the sideline.
Phil Dowd and his team grant Newcastle a final reprieve as RVP is rightly flagged for offside for what would have been his hat-trick and a soul-destroying winner for the Gunners after being outplayed so extensively in the second period. Although that was no more than what Arsenal had dictated in the first phase.
FINAL WHISTLE.
Wow. Delirium, pandemonium and utter disbelief. What a game. Incredible, indispensable and unforgettable.
Remember, remember February 5, 2011. Newcastle 4 Arsenal 4. How can we forget? HTML
You can follow Jamie on Twitter @JamieSwan1
#believable #years #today #witnessed #Newcastle #Arsenal