14 December 2024
Newcastle 4 Leicester City 0
The Magpies welcomed Leicester City to St James’ Park with the visitors unbeaten under their new manager. Ruud van Nistelrooy had not opted for the deluded media interviews like his ex-boss Erik ten Hag, he knew there was plenty of work to do here despite getting results. This would be the toughest test for him so far, The Foxes had not travelled well this season.
Eddie Howe’s side have been as inconsistent as a Donald Trump briefing this season. Whether he has money to spend or not, having Saudi owners raises the level of expectation with the fans. They were starting to get frustrated with the manager turning them into a carbon copy of Tottenham. There will be an immense result every few games, but you will lose to all the sides beneath you.
Fortunately for the hosts, the visitors turned up like their families’ lives depending on losing this fixture. Someone may want to use ‘find my phone’ to check on their wellbeing. The Magpies thrive on sides doing this at their cauldron of noise. Gordon almost opened the scoring with a shot from the edge of the box but Hermansen made a brilliant save to palm it over.
He then turned creator as he set up Burn but the man mountain couldn’t get over it and sent his effort sailing over the target. Even without scoring a goal, the way The Magpies were battering the visitors, if you saw this in the street you would try to intervene. The only wonder was whether this was their tactics and van Nistelrooy expected them to absorb the pressure for 90 minutes.
At times, it was a wonder whether the keeper was closer to the Newcastle attackers than his defenders. They were backing off like Newcastle’s players had been infected with the T-Virus just before the game. It was hard to tell them to let up shouting ‘come on, they’ve had enough’ without a goal having been scored. Fortunately, the home faithful did not have long to wait.
Even a non-league team wouldn’t stomach this defending from Leicester. Gordon had the freedom of the pitch, finding Murphy on the edge of the box. Despite all the players in front of him, he side-footed into the back of the net to give the hosts a deserved lead. Unless The Foxes bucked their ideas up, this was going to be messy.
Isak should have doubled the lead when put through but Hermansen guessed the right way and made his shot look poor. The Swede is a great finisher, that is in no doubt, but he is not as clinical as sometimes a side like The Magpies need. Van Nistelrooy’s defence looked punch-drunk already, whatever he had planned, they were not able to run with it.
Going in just a goal behind would have been seen as a positive for the visitors. That was until they came back out without the influential Hermansen. Nothing against his replacement Ward, he is a decent keeper, but the 24-year-old Dane has been pulling off such heroics this season that he is most likely to leave Leicester City for the X-Men.
Howe’s side forced an early free-kick after the interval. It was training ground stuff. Gordon clipped it to the back post where Hall headed it across goal. The Magpies’ players were queueing up to score, with Guimaraes heading into an empty net. The Foxes’ keeper was to touch the ball for the first time as he was picking it out of the back of the net.
St James’ Park is a big pitch. When Newcastle look to play into that space, this seems like some living hell to visit. Leicester were all over the place as Hall’s cross deflected into the box. Isak was at the back post to cushion a header into the far corner. This was a real horror show for the visitors, it will certainly have given their new Dutch manager some problem sleeping.
One little sidenote, if possible, Eddie Howe should sell Trippier. They look such a better team with the youngsters Hall and Livramento at full-back. The can deliver the manager’s vision out on the pitch, a massive problem for anyone in this league. They should have added another when the former Chelsea youngster set up Murphy but he couldn’t keep his shot down.
The visitors had their first shot on target after about 70 minutes. It was a routine save for Pope in the bottom corner, who timed his introduction to the game well. Some say after ten minutes he had gone up the high street getting some last-minute presents but no one can confirm as this was the first time anyone had looked at the Newcastle goal all afternoon.
With half an hour of the game still play, Isak threaded a ball through to Murphy. This time he took his chance and buried his effort for a second goal. At this stage, people inside the ground were asking each other what the highest score ever in the league was. Even if this were a pre-season friendly, you would tell the ref to blow up saying, ‘they’ve had enough.’
The reality is, too much of the Leicester City squad is not Premier League quality. You could argue that if van Nistelrooy keeps them up, he has to be in the shortlist for manager of the season. Whether the hosts took their foot off the gas, they knew the game was won. In fact, the manager did too as he brought off his stars.
These are the home matches that the Geordie faithful adore, they just want to see more of it. From the visitors’ perspective, do not think these opinions are an attack on your team. You decided to take on the top-flight with a Championship team, the gulf is huge. If you can secure your Premier League status, it will be one of the great escapes from the ultimate pretenders. Kudos.
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