England Premier League Newcastle United vs Chelsea

Newcastle United vs Chelsea 2-0

In what was a disappointing afternoon at St. James Park like last season’s fixture, The blues gifted Newcastle with two great chances to capitalize and win the game. Coming off an incredible week after beating Man City and Arsenal, it was a disappointing fixture from the Blues and one that we should look to put behind us for the game against Schalke in midweek.

The game started with Chelsea having a lot of the possession and trying out different routes to break through the Newcastle defense but, didn’t work out. The Magpies were playing a defensive, rigid system waiting to hit in the break through the fast, powerful players like Gouffran, Ameobi and Remy. Through out the first period of the game, our back line was not threatened thanks to a solid defending from John Terry and David Luiz.
But, we never created much chances to score on-goal and Fernando Torres didn’t get the chances he needed especially from the wings. Eden Hazard was trying to cut in from the left too much and Juan Mata was playing as the 2nd no. 10 next two Oscar which really didn’t work at all.
Only, a couple of strong headers from John Terry (the only magnificent performer for Chelsea through the 90 mins) tested Tom Krul’s goal and even hit the crossbar to deny us a goal we needed. The first half ended with not much chances taken well and we desperately lacked width through Juan Mata, who is uncomfortable on the wings opposed to his favored No. 10 position.
Eden Hazard also should have done better on the left wing to create few aerial opportunities for in-form Fernando Torres. The first half ended in a stalemate with out a goal and not even a satisfying display by the Blues in a way we tortured Man City and Arsenal’s defense in the previous two games.
2nd half: Jose Mourinho stuck to the same line-up he started with, withholding any changes needed for little later on. Newcastle united though came out like a wounded animal, attacking and trying to score. They had this confidence coming from the realization, Chelsea weren’t at their best and taking chances to score that is expected of them.
66th minute arrived and it was a free-kick to Newcastle. Yohan Cabaye crossed a swinging free-kick and the unmarked Gouffran headed comfortably into the back of the net for Newcastle. Disappointed by the score, the blues started to attack and create dangers. Mourinho shifted to a seemingly attacking 4-3-3 with only Ramires holding the anchor of midfield after Lampard was withdrawn for Andre Schurrle.
The German winger should have started in one of the wings ahead of Oscar or Mata and he came in late. Also another substitutions came from Chelsea as Eto’o and Willian came on for Mata and Torres to turn the game around. Even though the substitutes did well, we couldn’t break the deadlock against them.
Even later chances for the magpies created scoring opportunities but, didn’t go in to the back of the net by John Terry’s resolute defense to deny them a chance. The captain was magnificent through out the game and he stopped opportunities coming from Luiz and Ramires’ reckless defending in front of Remy and Ameobi.In the late stages of the game, a defensive blunder created a chance for Remy who doubled Newcastle’s lead to 2 goals and wrap up a deserved 3 points for the home team. Chelsea played poor and Jose will surely have a word for the player responsible for allowing the Gouffran header and also Ramires and at times, Luiz’s reckless challenges to allow players go past them.