Palace finding the going tough as Newcastle's change of gears takes contest away from them
Premier League
Crystal Palace (0) 0
Newcastle United (0) 2 Osula 47, Barnes 58
We waited patiently for something to happen. And when it did it was not good news for the Eagles.
After a first half in which very little happened - Daichi Kamada and Jean-Philippe Mateta both off target with Palace's best chances - the Geordies upped the tempo to seize control.
Jacob Murphy turned Jaydee Canvot to send in a beautiful cross that William Osula turned in at the near post past Walter Benitez and it wasn't long before the afternoon got further away from them following a fine finish from Harvey Barnes.
In between those two decisive strikes, Pierre Sage's team almost conceded another when Joe Willock slipped the ball past the Palace keeper after Joelinton had prodded the ball through to him.
A VAR offside call came to the rescue then but the mood had changed and within minutes Barnes had snapped in the second goal after Amar Dedic on the overlap had centred for his team-mate to put away.
The extra pace and urgency in the Magpies that was obvious since the turnaround had the reward it probably deserved. The team talk from boss Matthias Jaissle had clearly been effective.
Palace looked flat. They did not have the usual Holmesdale Road drummer to galvanise them and the effects of a second successive midweek away trip in Europe seemed to catch up with them. The latest trek, to Istanbul, may have resulted in a morale-boosting draw but it also may have taken its toll.
Adam Wharton finally gave rise to some optimism with a curling effort that caused Lukas Hornicek to stretch to get his gloves to the ball and sub Dario Osorio pinged in a shot from the opposite side from just outside the box that was dealt with equally well by the Magpies stopper.
But there was not nearly enough to rattle United's cage. Eddie Nketiah, brought on for Mateta after an hour, fared little better than the man he replaced,
Coming hard on the heels of last week's 5-0 drubbing at Brighton, this was another unwelcome setback for the men from Selhurst Park and their next challenge is a visit to Fulham for a Carabao Cup tie and a trip to a resurgent Spurs next Saturday in the Prem.
Eagles: (3-4-2-1) Benitez - Richards, Disasi, Canvot - Khalaili, Wharton, Kamada, Michell (Osorio 63) -McNeil, Pino - Mateta (Nketiah 62)
Magpies:(4-2-3-1) Hornicek - Dedic (Thiaw 95), Schar, Burn, Hall - Gonzalez, Joelinton (Steur 85) - Murphy, Willock (Ramsey 77), Barnes (Elanga 77) - Osula (Wissa 77)
Attendance: 25,018
Comments