Newcastle United face another week of questions after a disjointed display in the capital.
The strange thing was that the Magpies didn’t necessarily perform badly at Stamford Bridge , they just lacked cutting edge when it mattered.
United will probably play worse over 90 minutes than this and take something from a game or two at some stage in the season.
Although, they can’t hide from the fact they lacked conviction.
There was a power cut after the break from United
Newcastle fans couldn’t complain about the way their side prodded and probed Chelsea.
Seeing Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron run at the Blues was a joy to behold for a while.
The Frenchman cut inside a few times but managed to get his shot away just once when he slashed wide.
Almiron too showed he can frighten defences but didn’t seem keen to test the goalkeeper.
But what was disheartening after the interval was that both players stopped those runs forward in the second half.
Chelsea had clearly been rattled by Frank Lampard at half-time and unfortunately it felt like when not if that Toon resistance was going to be broken.
Did the tactical changes from Bruce and Agnew come too late?
They pondered for about 20 second half minutes before deciding to unleash Andy Carroll.
Then with 70 minutes on the clock the big man emerged.
Only by then, Chelsea had United on the ropes.
The deadlock was broken three minutes after his arrival and Christian Atsu and Dwight Gayle were handed brief cameos to try to claw the game back.
It was always going to be a big ask for the pair.
Once it became clear Chelsea had shaken things up at half-time, perhaps the changes should have came after 10 minutes in the second half.
Although, it’s easy to say that now, and with the game at 0-0 heading to the closing stages, the coaching team may have felt they’d weathered the storm and Carroll’s presence might forced Chelsea to change things.
Dwight Gayle isn’t happy
The striker played in his first Toon game since May 2018, but he didn’t look too chuffed about life.
It’s easy to see why after looking closer with Gayle not only being denied a decent cross but not even receiving a pass.
He didn’t manage a touch in his seven minutes plus stoppage time.
As Gayle left the field he made his frustrations clear to Ciaran Clark.
Gayle should start against Wolves next week and hopefully he can take his anger out on the Europa League outfit.
