Marseille 2 Newcastle 1 – Tuesday November 25, 2025 8:00 PM
Direct fan/writer response from some of our regular contributors to The Mag.
Nat Seaton:
‘Oh, what could that have been!
Such a disappointing goal to give away immediately after half-time and then they quickly get the second.
We had chances, their goalkeeper played a good game.
We played well, an away game in the Champions League and I didn’t deserve to lose, but that goal in the early second half just changed the game.
“The heads were up and the boys, although tired from Saturday, were still proud of us.”
Billy Miller:
‘We just can’t string wins together.
We weren’t bad today, but a few bad minutes in the second half cost us.
Despite our pressure in the later stages, we hardly tested a half-blindfolded goalkeeper.
Eighth tonight, but it’s highly likely this will drop below that after the rest of the games have been played.
We need to win at least two of our last three to have a chance of automatic qualification.
Hopefully the first away win in the Premier League will come on Saturday.”
Matt Busby said…:
‘I liked that.
The referee was very good. The commentator and his assistant were pretty decent. It was end-to-end and I thought we played well.
Okay, obviously disappointing to lose, especially after being ahead at the break and falling behind within five minutes of the restart, but we gave a good account of ourselves, created chances and might have taken a point on another night.
I’m not going to bash Pope for the mistake that led to the equalizer. After all, he was praised for his foresight in denying Haaland on Saturday, but what sums up his mediocrity is the free-kick he took in the 96th that went straight to one of their players. “Can’t he find one of his own players for once,” I shouted at the television as a bewildered looking whippet sat on my knee thinking “what is he talking about”?
Tonali looked away from the boil, but Willock looked lively, and so did Ramsey. Even Elanga showed some promise when he entered the fray.
Marseille is a difficult place to go. But at least we go to places like that these days.
I need a response at the Bramley Apple.”
David Punton:
‘A nice day on the French Riviera for the fans, a shame about the match.
A winning position thrown away with five minutes of absolute madness in the second half, not least a major blunder from Nick Pope.
It was always going to be very difficult to go here, they are a good team and it is an iconic stadium.
We narrowly get away with it, but the away form is so worrying. Four straight road losses now. Even if we take the lead, you fear for us. It needs to be addressed.
The manager took major credit with the win over Man City and his team selection tonight seemed baffling. I would have remained unchanged from the weekend.
The form of Gordon and Elanga are also major concerns.
A discouraging night overall. However, this season was never going to be as good as last season.’
Greg McPeake:
‘If you rely on the internet for your TV, you will have problems when it plays.
I had to leave it to the local boozer so missed the first ten minutes. I wish I had missed the first ten of the second half.
I thought my boy might be right. Time for Pope to go. Disaster masterclass after a good first half.’
Tony Mallabar:
‘Things that are guaranteed in life: death, taxes and Nick Pope not being between the sticks on Saturdays.
Maybe play a real striker away from Hyem.”
Jamie Smith:
‘We should be talking about a promising and solid performance which, if even one point had been returned, would have been a decent result and kept us on course for the top 8.
Nick Pope’s mistake cost us all three points in my opinion.
It was completely ridiculous and it feels like every defeat contains one major goalkeeping error.
Plenty of fans have been pushing for Ramsdale tonight, but Howe is putting huge pressure on himself if he doesn’t make the move to Everton.
Very sickening result.’
Simon Ritter:
“So many sloppy passes, much more than on Saturday, cost us the chance of a priceless victory in Marseille.
Our usually reliable central midfielders lost possession time and time again, allowing the home side to attack almost at will.
Handing the ball over in the attacking half is bad enough. If you lose it in your back half there is always a good chance you will be undone.
Two high-quality finishes from Aubameyang made the difference, although we struggled to control the match from about fifteen minutes onwards.’
Mark Jankowski:
‘Five minutes of utter madness at the start of the second half cost Newcastle a valuable road win in the Champions League.
We had put in an excellent performance in the first half, albeit perhaps a little wasteful with our final ball, and should probably have had a slightly bigger lead than the one goal we scored at half-time.
Unfortunately, Newcastle sleepwalked out in the second half and a moment of madness from Nick Pope, who raced out of his goal when the excellent Malick Thiaw appeared to have the situation under control, allowed Aubameyang to finish astutely into an empty net.
Newcastle’s heads seemed to be rattling a bit after that and we soon conceded a couple of big chances, with Aubameyang once again catching a Newcastle player unaware as he flashed across Fabian Schär’s face to take two clean sheets.
Newcastle had chances in the second half, but we did not get the reward our efforts deserved.
It was a night where we probably should have taken a point on the balance of the game, but we came away empty-handed. We are still strong in the competition phase, but the chances of a top eight place and a valuable round seem to be diminishing.’
Marseille 2 Newcastle 1 – Tuesday November 25, 2025 8:00 PM
Match statistics
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Barnes 6
Marseille:
Aubameyang 46, 50
Possess was Newcastle 43% Marseille 57%
Total shots were Newcastle 20 Marseille 18
Shots on target were Newcastle 9 Marseille 7
Corners were Newcastle 5 Marseille 11
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 31 Marseille 26
Newcastle team in Marseille:
Pope, Livramento (Room 60), Thiaw, Schar (Elanga 61), Burn, Willock (Ramsey 72), Bruno, Tonali, Barnes, Gordon (Woltemade 72), Murphy (Miley 60)
Unused subs:
Thompson, Ramsdale, Botman, Joelinton, Alex Murphy, Alabi
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