With which, I shall take my leave. Bye!
And here’s Louise Taylor’s report from St James’ Park:
At the final whistle Steve Bruce stared disconsolately at the players slumped on the pitch before turning to offer Marcelo Bielsa a polite fist bump. The Leeds manager sensed it was no time for social distancing and immediately placed both hands on his Newcastle counterpart’s shoulders before offering him some, presumably, consolatory words.
After nine Premier League games without a win – and 11 in all competitions – Bruce is enduring the bleakest of midwinters and needs all the support going. Although his side improved in the second half, particularly after Allan Saint-Maximin’s liberation from the bench, they are plunging towards the sort of relegation struggle Leeds look set fair to avoid.
Much more here:
Here’s Jonathan Liew’s report on high-flying West Ham’s win over Crystal Palace:
Somehow, the Premier League’s perennial basket-case club has become its model student. The responsibility for this lies less with its fatally incompetent ownership than with its impressively-drilled players, and a manager in David Moyes who has taken a thin, uneven squad into the upper reaches of the Premier League. Whisper it, but believe it all the same: West Ham are very good.
Just how good, of course, remains a matter of some conjecture. Contrary to popular belief, the league table lies freely and often, and West Ham’s ascent into the top four owes itself largely to having played more fixtures than the teams around it. Still, the way they came from behind to dismantle Crystal Palace here offered all the evidence you need. This is a club operating at the very limits of its potential, and with a judicious signing or two in the remaining days of the transfer window, might just be able to challenge for European football next season.
Much more here:
Jack Harrison, the matchwinner, has a quick chat:
We knew going into it it was going to be a challenge for us. The manager talks about us as a team before the match having personality and character, and when you face adversity like that [after three poor results] it can help you to improve. So that was his team-talk before the match and we went into this match with a lot of grit and a lot of fight and we showed that until the end.
There’s more football for you this evening/morning/whatever, with Scott Murray all over Southampton v Arsenal here:
This seems vindictive:
Marcelo Bielsa has only won one Premier League game against a club that was not managed by an Englishman.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) January 26, 2021
The league table as it stands. Leeds are 12th, Newcastle still in trouble, but look at West Ham invading the Champions League places after their 3-1 win at Crystal Palace!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Utd | 19 | 11 | 40 |
| 2 | Man City | 18 | 18 | 38 |
| 3 | Leicester | 19 | 14 | 38 |
| 4 | West Ham | 20 | 6 | 35 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 19 | 15 | 34 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 18 | 16 | 33 |
| 7 | Everton | 17 | 7 | 32 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 17 | 13 | 29 |
| 9 | Chelsea | 19 | 10 | 29 |
| 10 | Southampton | 18 | 5 | 29 |
| 11 | Arsenal | 19 | 4 | 27 |
| 12 | Leeds | 19 | -3 | 26 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace | 20 | -12 | 23 |
| 14 | Wolverhampton | 19 | -8 | 22 |
| 15 | Burnley | 18 | -12 | 19 |
| 16 | Newcastle | 20 | -15 | 19 |
| 17 | Brighton | 19 | -7 | 17 |
| 18 | Fulham | 18 | -12 | 12 |
| 19 | West Brom | 19 | -28 | 11 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 19 | -22 | 5 |
Final score: Newcastle United 1-2 Leeds United
90+4 mins: But Newcastle don’t get the ball over the halfway line before the referee’s whistle blows. It’s all over, and Newcastle lose again!
90+4 mins: Ayling and Roberts combine to use up some more seconds by the corner flag, but then the latter ludicrously dives in an attempt to win a free kick and Newcastle get the ball back.
90+3 mins: Ayling takes the ball to the corner flag, as Leeds try to take the wind out of Newcastle’s sails.
90+1 mins: There will be four minutes of stoppage time, or thereabouts. Klich becomes probably the first person to cleanly tackle Saint-Maximin.
90 mins: Save! The corner hits Schar and Darlow has to react smartly to prevent an own goal.
89 mins: Klich hits a left-foot shot that deflects wide off Lascelles’ arms, which were pushed tight to his body. Newcastle want a penalty and won’t get one.
86 mins: Schar pretends to be much more badly hurt by Rodrigo’s arm than he possibly could have been, and when the referee doesn’t give him a free kick gets up and confronts Rodrigo, who goes down and pretends to be much more badly hurt than he possibly could have been. The referee books them both.
84 mins: Gayle’s shot screams high, and probably also wide.
83 mins: Saint-Maximin sets off on another screaming run, which ends when he’s brought down, 25 yards out. Dwight Gayle fancies his luck here.
82 mins: Save! Schar picks up the ball in his own half and starts running, and by the time he stops he’s 20 yards out and has just sent in a curling shot that is well saved by Meslier!
80 mins: Lascelles’ long ball very nearly drops onto Wilson’s right boot, before bouncing out of play. Newcastle could do with just keeping the ball for a while and calming things down, because this high-tempo madness primarily suits the home side.
77 mins: That’s the last we’ll see of Fraser, who has been replaced by Dwight Gayle.
76 mins: Save! Fraser takes a Newcastle corner and Shelvey wins the header, but Meslier tips over the bar!
75 mins: Newcastle are basically thumping the ball forward and relying on chaos to create itself in the final third. It’s doing a decent job, to be fair, with Saint-Maximin helping it on its way.
72 mins: Newcastle win another dangerous free kick, and hit another wall.
69 mins: The second half has been excellent/rubbish, depending on whether you like to be entertained or to see organised teams playing sensibly. Saint-Maximin is tripped, and Schar drives the free-kick into the wall.
68 mins: Newcastle win a corner, and again Shelvey finds Lascelles, whose header clips the top of the bar on its way over! The referee charitably gives Newcastle another corner, but this one picks out a defender.
66 mins: Chance! Saint-Maximin spins and sprints to the edge of the area before nudging to Lewis on his left, who drives a shot wide of the near post!
65 mins: Another excellent pass from Rodrygo to Raphinha on the right, and his pass infield finds Roberts, whose shot doesn’t really alter either the speed or the trajectory of the ball, and Darlow saves.
65 mins: And a substitution in this one, where Saint-Maximin has finally entered the fray, and Murphy has left it.
64 mins: Another goal in the other Premier League match, where Craig Dawson has made it Crystal Palace 1-3 West Ham.
64 mins: Now the ball drops to Murphy, whose 20-yarder curls just wide!
63 mins: Action! Shelvey goes on a lovely run down the left, but his attempted cutback hits a defender and is cleared.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-2 Leeds (Harrison, 61 mins)
Great finish, rubbish defending! Raphinha cuts inside from the right, and for an age Harrison is free on the left, arms outstretched, demanding a pass. Eventually he gets the ball inside the area, controls, and hits a lovely shot with the outside of his left foot that goes in off the inside of the far post!
Updated
60 mins: Leeds make their final change, bringing Roberts on for Bamford.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-1 Leeds (Almiron, 57 mins)
Newcastle have massively improved since half-time, and now have their reward! Lascelles wins the ball excellently deep in the Leeds half, and from there Shelvey passes to Wilson, who touches infield to Almiron, who runs beyond the Leeds defence before sidefooting in off Meslier!
Updated
56 mins: The ball is played into the Leeds area; Meslier gets to it a moment before Wilson, and gets a glancing blow to the head by way of reward. Leeds make a second substitution, bringing Klich on for the recently-booked Alioski.
55 mins: Chance! Shelvey curls the free kick onto Lascelles’ forehead, but he heads wide.
54 mins: Alioski, falling over, pushes the ball away from Murphy with his arm and gets the day’s first booking.
53 mins: Newcastle have had a shot on target! Cooper gives the ball away really poorly and Newcastle work it to Almiron, whose 25-yarder is too close to Meslier.
52 mins: Saint-Maximin is still warming up, now on the touchline. He’s going to be absolutely boiling by the time he gets on the pitch. Murphy has a long-range shot which hits a defender on its way behind.
49 mins: Leeds have a goal disallowed for handball! A lovely pass from Rodrigo to Raphinha, who pulls back to Dallas. His first-time shot hits a defender, rebounds into Dallas’s arm, flailing as he falls over, loops over Darlow, clips the crossbar, bounces over the line and then out. For a while it’s hard to know what’s happened, whether it’s a goal, no goal, a foul, a handball or what day it is, but the referee gets it all sorted out in no time.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! The second half is under way. There has only been one shot on target in this match, which isn’t promising, but Newcastle have presumably been freshly motivated by a Bruce interval rocket.
The players are back out, and it looks like there will be no halftimely changes.
Allan Saint-Maximin is on the pitch, warming up. We’ll surely be seeing him at some point, and Newcastle could do with a bit of pace and invention. The key issue though is the lack of numbers and movement in the penalty area: Murphy and Fraser can both create if they have some targets to aim for.
“Bruce has to go,” writes RSLASSOR on Twitter. “We’ll need someone who can motivate the players to try and get us out of the Championship at the first go in 21/22.” The table doesn’t yet look depressing enough for that kind of response, but at this rate it soon will.
Half time: Newcastle United 0-1 Leeds United
45+6 mins: Dallas gets down the right and chips in a cross. Darlow is poorly positioned and anyway for some reason sitting down, but nobody is on hand to turn it in. And that, for now, is that!
45+3 mins: Murphy cuts inside from the right, sprints across the field until he’s beyond what started off as the far post, and then has a shot that goes well wide of it.
45+2 mins: Phillips takes a free-kick from deep, curling it into the area where Banford rises to win the header, but he doesn’t judge it well and the ball brushes his forehead and bounces wide.
45+1 mins: Into stoppage time we roll, and because the physios have been so busy there’ll be at least five minutes of it.
45 mins: Rodrigo has another effort, this time from 20 yards, which zips wide.
Updated
43 mins: Leeds break and nearly score! Rodrigo cuts onto his left foot, opens up the goal and curls in a shot that Lewis gets across to block and then Raphinha shoots against the near post from a ludicrously acute angle!
Updated
43 mins: A lovely pass from Schar finds Murphy bursting down the right. His cross is then turned behind for a corner, which Meslier comes to claim but totally fluffs - the ball goes between his flapping hands, but bounces to a defender.
42 mins: Marcos Peebles gets in touch on Twitter to explain the Soucek potato salad thing:
39 mins: Approximately 0.06 of a chance for Newcastle, as a ball from the right runs to Fraser, whose first-time, under-pressure, edge-of-the-area shot goes high. Still, green shoots for Newcastle.
33 mins: Suddenly, nearly something for Newcastle! To be clear, not nearly a goal, but nearly a chance or at the very least a touch inside the penalty area in a genuinely dangerous position. Fraser curls the ball in from the left, and it ends with Alioski, Murphy and Meslier all trying to reach it first at the far post and ending up in a pile of humanity, from which the keeper is the last to rise.
Updated
32 mins: Newcastle win a free kick about 35 yards from goal, which Shelvey thunders about 20 yards over the bar.
31 mins: Dallas has recovered and is back on his feet and on the field.
28 mins: Stuart Dallas is on the floor now, and feeling his left hamstring.
27 mins: Leeds have the ball on the left, and four people in the penalty area to aim for. They don’t find any of them, but compare and contrast. Meanwhile this has also happened since kick-off:
Updated
25 mins: There’s been a third goal in the other Premier League game, where West Ham no lead 2-1 and Soucek has a brace. I’ve no idea why he now needs potato salad.
GET THIS MAN SOME POTATO SALAD NOW!!#CRYWHU pic.twitter.com/70C0FgRArt
— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 26, 2021
23 mins: Leeds have had 76% of possession so far, and if there were any home fans around to boo they’d be booing by now.
22 mins: “If Leeds are going to pile into the Newcastle box like that, someone can sort out a half-time Uber for Steve Bruce,” says Gary Naylor. “The soundtrack should play that clatter of upturned seats the instant the next Leeds goal is scored.”
Newcastle have now conceded nine goals since they last scored. They have scored 6.67% of the last 15 goals in their matches.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) January 26, 2021
21 mins: Newcastle win a corner from which Lascelles heads wide.
20 mins: A nice turn from Jamal Lewis who spins away from his marker and runs to the edge of the area. To his right only Wilson is in the box for him to pass to, and his movement is initially nonexistent, and then poor.
GOAL! Newcastle 0-1 Leeds United (Raphinha, 17 mins)
And suddenly, a chance, and a goal! Murphy loses the ball on the halfway line and Leeds run forward with a three-on-two advantage. Bamford’s pass forces Rodrigo a bit wide and allows Newcastle time to get men back, but he pulls back to Raphinha on the edge of the area, who takes a touch and passes inside the far post with his left foot!
Updated
15 mins: As starts go, this one could be best defined as inauspicious.
12 mins: Half a chance for Leeds, as a cross from the right finds Harrison running in unmarked from the left, and he swings back his left leg before completely shanking his volley in entirely the wrong direction.
10 mins: Llorente has had to leave the field, and Pascal Struijk has come on.
9 mins: Another goal in the other game, Soucek equalising for West Ham. And another injured centre-back in this one, Llorente down and clutching a knee.
8 mins: Banford’s cross deflects behind to give Leeds the night’s first corner, which the fully recovered Schar heads away.
6 mins: Shelvey has the night’s first shot: it’s low and hard and skids wide not just of the goal but of the six-yard box.
4 mins: There’s already been a goal in the other 6pm GMT Premier League kick-off, Wilf Zaha putting Crystal Palace ahead against West Ham in the third minute.
2 mins: The teams trade near-halfway free-kicks. Newcastle win the second, and having gone down Fabian Schar is clutching his left shoulder and looking unhappy.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! They’re off!
Out come the players! It is three minutes to football o’clock.
Steve Bruce has a quick chat. “They’ve been quite remarkable,” he says of Leeds. “They’ve been everybody’s team that you want to watch. We’re going to have to defend well but they leave a few holes at the back and let’s hope we can exploit them.”
I’m really not sure about Jonjo Shelvey’s pre-match warm-up outfit.
The average Newcastle home game this season ends 1.11-1.67; the average Leeds away game ends 1.89-2.22. So we should have some goals, but we might have to wait for them: Newcastle have not scored in 15 of their 19 first halves (and just the one in the others), or conceded in 10 of them, but only 5% of their games have finished goalless.
Newcastle bring in Fraser and Murphy for Manquillo and Carroll. Leeds make three changes, bringing in Meslier, Llorente and Phillips and leaving out Casilla, Klich and Struijk.
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and the names upon them were these:
Newcastle: Darlow, Murphy, Hayden, Lascelles, Schar, Lewis, Almiron, Shelvey, Hendrick, Fraser, Wilson. Subs: Dubravka, Matthew Longstaff, Carroll, Joelinton, Saint-Maximin, Ritchie, Gayle, Krafth, Manquillo.
Leeds: Meslier, Ayling, Cooper, Llorente, Alioski, Phillips, Raphinha, Dallas, Rodrigo, Harrison, Bamford. Subs: Poveda-Ocampo, Roberts, Casilla, Helder Costa, Hernandez, Struijk, Davis, Klich, Shackleton.
Referee: Anthony Taylor.
TEAM-NEWS 🚨
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) January 26, 2021
HWTL! ⚫️⚪️
📋 Three changes to the #LUFC XI, as Meslier, Llorente and Phillips start
— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 26, 2021
Hello world!
In their last eight matches Newcastle have amassed two draws, six defeats and (as mathematicians among you will already have worked out) not a single victory. It is half as good as the next worst Premier League record over the same timeframe, and 10% of the best (jointly held by the two Manchester clubs). In their last six matches there have been five defeats, one draw and, well, you work it out. It’s a deeply rubbish run that has seen Newcastle sink to 16th in the table, albeit still seven points clear of Fulham in the last relegation spot, and stormclouds gather over Steve Bruce. Fans have gathered outside St James’ Park to protest at his handling of the team, and the manager has refused to talk to the written press because he thinks some of them are being a bit mean. “The one thing I’ll never do is shy away from a challenge,” he said ahead of this game. Unless it’s journalists doing the challenging, in which case he will shy away from it in the most shameless fashion. “All you can do is prepare as best you can and try to ignore the noise. We need to go and get a result. I’ve seen little bits of promise but confidence is a little bit low,” he added.
As for Leeds, they have lost their last three games in all competitions, including a humbling at Crawley in the FA Cup and a 0-1 dismantling at the hands of Brighton at Elland Road last time out. “We’re not focused on the opponent’s bad run of form, we’re focused on our own game and trying to improve our own form,” says Marcelo Bielsa.
Anyway, hello! Here’s PA Media’s team news latest:
Newcastle head coach Steve Bruce will be without three central defenders for Tuesday night’s crucial Premier League clash with Leeds. Federico Fernandez and Paul Dummett (both illness) and Ciaran Clark (calf) are expected to miss out, while Javier Manquillo, who made his first appearance since November at Aston Villa on Saturday evening, is a doubt after limping off at Villa Park, where fellow full-back DeAndre Yedlin was unable to play because of an issue with his visa.
Striker Allan Saint-Maximin returned as a substitute in that game, but is unlikely to make the starting line-up after eight weeks out recovering from coronavirus.
Leeds will be boosted by the return of Kalvin Phillips and Illan Meslier. Midfielder Phillips sat out the recent home defeat to Brighton because of a one-game ban, while goalkeeper Meslier has missed two matches through illness. Marcelo Bielsa has no new injury concerns, but is still without defender Robin Koch (knee) and long-term absentees Gaetano Berardi (knee) and Adam Forshaw (hip).
