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Date: Sunday 12th March 2023, 4.30pm
Live on Sky Sports
Venue: St. James' Park
Conditions: Revitalised
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Newcastle |
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Wolves |
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2 - 1 |
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Teams |
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26 mins
Having earlier fluffed a free-kick on the edge of the D, Kieran Trippier
made amends by curling in an absolute beauty for Alexander Isak to perfectly
guide a header into the far corner of the Gallowgate goal. As good as it
gets.
1-0

Half time:
Magpies 1 Wolves
0
70 mins Newly
arrived substitute Hwang Hee-Chan picked up the ball just outside the box
and rode a couple of challenges but had lost the ball only for a falling
Trippier to scuff his clearance straight back to Hwang who just had to slot
into an empty net. 1-1

79 mins Sean
Longstaff played the ball out to Miggy Almiron running down the right and he
passed to Joe Willock who was in space on the edge of the box. Miggy carried
on his run, Willock returned it to him superbly and he took a touch before via a slight
deflection off Max Kilman - the defender left helpless in a similar manner to
Sven Botman in our last two matches. 2-1

Full time:
Magpies 2 Wolves 1
Eddie
Howe said:
"Our first-half performance
was very, very good. Alex (Isak) scored a massive goal for
us. Second half, a one-goal lead is always delicate and it should
have been more at half-time."Wolves, to be fair, came
back into the game, we know they have very good players. But the
character to get that winning goal is a good feeling for us.
"At 1-1 the game is in the
balance, with our recent run that was a real test of character for
us. But we had to regroup and we found another level.
“We were desperate to win today ; I
don’t think it really mattered how we did it, we just needed to
win. I
was very pleased with the performance – I think the first half was
right up there with our very best performances of the season.
"The only disappointing thing was that it was only 1-0 when I
thought the game should have been out of sight. That’s where the
players deserve huge credit after Wolves came back into it in the
second half. It was a key moment in our season, and the lads
responded brilliantly.
On Isak:
"Everything that a centre-forward needs, I think he has.
He has pace, technique, strength, and then the goal pleases me
because it’s not necessarily his trademark, but he needs to score
all different types of goals.
"It was a really good ball in, and a really good header. I
think he’s capable of great things – it’s up to us now to keep
him in a good place and feed him in the right areas.
"It’s very difficult to do it instantly (after changing
clubs). Sometimes, you need to get to know your environment and
you need to feel comfortable in your environment. You need to be
100% right to give your best on a consistent basis.
"I think Alex has done very well in the short time he’s been
with us. It’s been disrupted by injury, but we hope he’s behind
those concerns and we can build his fitness up a bit.
"The plan today was ‘run yourself into the ground until you
can no longer run’. He put his hand up and said, ‘That’s me
done’, and that’s the type of performance I want from him. I’m
really excited for what Alex can be for us now, and in the future.
"I want to clear this up: Isak is fit to play 90 minutes
for another team — but just not to my style of play and what I
demand. It was no slight on him — he’s very fit.
"It was great to play Alex from the start. I thought he was
very impressive and showed what his game is all about with his pace
and technique. The goal is a traditional Newcastle number nine
finish. Hopefully, that’s the start of a really good spell for
him."
On the winning goalscorer:
"He's really attacked the situation. The team was in need and I
had no doubt that Miggy would come on in the right frame of mind. I
know the lad so well and he's a team player, he's not about himself.
I had no doubt about how he would respond."
On the Pope penalty incident:
"I didn’t think it was a
penalty personally at the time, you might say I’m biased. I think
it was Raul Jimenez going down before the contact was made."
On the Gordon injury:
"It was a strange one, because after the game there was no sign of an
injury. But, I think, it was one of those that got worse the day of
the game.
"It was from a tackle. It swelled up, we had it scanned. We
were hoping that we could get away with it, and he would be all
right, but unfortunately not, so he’ll probably miss the next two
games.
"Not sure whether he’ll
be back after the international break. We hope so, but (we're)
not 100% certain.”
On Callum Wilson:
"Callum's had a difficult week. He hasn't trained all week. He
did really well to put himself on the pitch today."
Julen Lopetegui said:
"It is always difficult to
accept a defeat because you want to win all the matches. It is difficult but we
have to do it and we have to improve and to continue working for the next
match.
"I don’t know if we deserved more. If it was just the second-half, then
yes. But in the first-half, they were better than us. We hit the post and after
a very clear penalty, which was a pity.
"In the first-half, they overcame us
but in the second-half we improved a lot and we changed many things, we overcame
them, we deserved to score and in the end we should have drawn the match.
"If it’s a penalty and a red card it’s a different match, but we can’t
do anything. I represent my club and my fans and we are very unhappy with this
decision, it was unfair, but we have to think of the next match.
"It's not a matter of what I think. It's true, we have suffered a big
mistake a lot of matches ago in Liverpool and today, for me, it was a
penalty. But the VAR can't help the referee in this case and I can't say
anything more.
"We were unlucky with the decision. We didn't have any penalty since I
arrived here, but we have to keep working, I don't want to put the focus on only the
referee. Because we have things to work on in our team and for me too. I'm
not happy with how we ended the match.
"We lost against a very good team but in the second half we deserved more.
"The relegation fight will be until the last match. We will fight with a lot
of good teams and we have to be ready. But we have to focus on the next one
and carry on fighting to improve the wrong things.
"The substitutions depend on the players and afterwards it’s not a good
change because I did this change to be very strong in defence and it was a pity
we suffered the second-half and we didn’t have the calm and the capacity to
overcome them at the end.”
Alexander Isak hit his fourth PL goal of the season. He now
has a shot, a penalty and two headers to his name.
Top scorer Miguel
Almiron now has 11 Premier League goals for the season, today's
effort taking him to 20 in that competition for the
Magpies.
The Paraguayan's timely strike prevented the sixteenth PL
meeting of these two sides ending in a 1-1 draw for what
would have been a tenth time.
Newcastle scored more than one goal in a PL home game for the
first time since October 2022, when they demolished Aston Villa
4-0.
Eddie Howe's side found the net for the first time in 341
minutes of league and cup action - the longest goalless run in
all competitions since a 455 minute lull in January 2021.
Wolves @ SJP - PL era:
2022/23 won 2-1 Isak, Almiron
2021/22 won 1-0 Wood 2020/21 drew 1-1 Lascelles
2019/20 drew 1-1 Lascelles
2018/19 lost 1-2 Perez
2016/17 won 2-0 Ritchie, Gouffran (LC)
2016/17 lost 0-2 (Ch)
2011/12 drew 2-2 Cisse, Gutierrez
2010/11 won 4-1 Nolan, Shola Ameobi, Lovenkrands, Gutierrez
2003/04 drew 1-1 Bowyer
1992/93 won 2-1 Kelly 2 (D1)
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Waffle |

Pondering
his team selection of a side winless in five Premier League matches,
Eddie Howe reiterated that starting berths would be earned on merit
rather than reputation. And to that end he replaced no less than
five players who began last week's defeat at Manchester City.
Doubtless those choices were motivated by observing training - and
also being unable to call on injury victim Anthony Gordon - but his
revised formation meant that for the first time, the terrace ditty
about Bruno being in the middle, Botman at the back and Isak in
attack came to pass.
And that turned out to be exactly what we needed, as the Swedish
striker produced an unrelenting performance topped by a fine goal
that set Newcastle on
the road to a much-needed
victory at a relieved St.James' Park.
Replacing Callum Wilson, Isak was a constant forward threat and
stretched the Wolves defence in addition to heading home Kieran Trippier's
26th minute free kick to end our recent goal drought. Had that
turned out to be the winner, we may have finally have deployed our
"wicked game" headline...
In addition to Isak, Fabian Schar, Jacob Murphy,
Joe Willock and birthday boy Allan Saint-Maximin were preferred to Jamaal
Lascelles, Callum Wilson, Almiron, Gordon and the suspended Joelinton.
That opener heralded a spell of pressure from United that
significantly failed to
yield a second goal; Bruno coming the closest when heading
against the crossbar, after a corner kick was returned across the six
yard box by Dan Burn.
Meanwhile a rare forward foray from the visitors ended with Daniel
Podence glancing his shot off the goal frame soon after.
Wolves were aggrieved that the officials had failed to act at 0-0
when Nick Pope tangled with Raul Jimenez in his box after the
goalkeeper got a heavy first touch on a backpass.
Referee Andy Madley was unmoved and VAR didn't intervene. That
denied Wolves a penalty and saw Pope avoid what would have been a second red
card in as many home games. That would have landed him a four game
ban and added yet another twist to our goalkeeping soap opera,
putting recent Red Devils loanee Martin Dubravka between the posts
against Manchester United next month.
The second half saw United increasingly eclipsed by a revitalised
Wolves side, who benefited from the half time replacement of the
ineffective Adama Traore by Pedro Neto.
With Newcastle looking increasingly lethargic, Pope was forced into
noteworthy stops to deny Pedro Neto and Joao Moutinho before a
defensive calamity saw the visitors level - just after United had
made a double replacement to try and regain the initiative.
Hwang Hee-Chan had been on the field for just a matter of seconds
when he shrugged off a shirt pull and wriggled into the United box
on 70 minutes, pushing a pass forward for Jimenez to run on to.
Trippier reached the ball first some eight yards from goal, but
slipped in attempting a clearance and gifted it to Hwang. With Pope
out of his goal, the South Korean international who netted twice
against us last season had the simplest of tasks to draw his side
level.
United were to have a super sub of their own though; Almiron
exchanging passes with Joe Willock at the Leazes End before looping
the ball home in the 79th minute with the
help of a deflection - the first time that we've scored more than once in a league game since Boxing Day.
The cushion of a third goal could have followed but Botman snatched
at a chance in the 90th minute and cleared the crossbar by some
distance following an inventive move stemming from a corner kick.
The black and whites ground out the precious victory following five
minutes of time added time: some gritty performances typified by
Schar's supreme effort and some decisive interventions by Bruno,
although he again looked troubled by an ankle issue at times.
Three points saw United advance one place to fifth, two points ahead
of Liverpool with a game in hand. They now trail fourth-placed Spurs
by four points, having played two games less than them.
On a weekend when other results went in our favour, a
positive outcome of our own was needed to restore some stability and
confidence on and off the field after the debilitating trio of
recent losses.
And we got there, just about, those selected providing some
vindication of the manager's changes and in the case of Isak,
further hints of the sparkling talent that we invested in last
summer.
Biffa |