Right then, I’m off. Here’s the match report again. Bye!
Ben Fisher has filed his match report from the Hawthorns:
At the end of a bruising week for Steve Bruce, it was imperative Newcastle found a way to stem the bleeding. For Bruce, who spent the last few days attempting to extinguish the flames from a leaked training-ground spat with Matt Ritchie, avoiding defeat may have been adequate but a goalless draw extended a sorry run to two wins from their past 18 matches in all competitions. For West Brom, who remain ensconced in the bottom three and eight points adrift of the last safe spot, this represented an opportunity missed.
Much more here:
Steve Bruce says, and I’m summarising here, that the game was rubbish, and his players worked hard but were also rubbish.
It certainly wasn’t a classic, that’s for sure. We’re disappointed that we haven’t come here and won but we always knew it was going to be difficult considering the circumstances. I couldn’t fault the effort and endeavour, but at certain times* we lacked that little bit of quality in the final third. We had two or three really good opportunities without making the pass. Overall, a draw was the fair result. We’ve had a difficult week, but the players have shown they’re on the same hymn sheet. It’s not about performances, we have to find a way. I’m quietly confident we’ll do it.
* All times.
More football to read about - Rob Smyth is liveblogging the Madrid derby:
Conor Townsend was quite good today. He says he’s “got to take the positives”, which is true, and also that “on another day it could have been three or four”, which is not. Unless he means not just on another day but with other players. Anyway, this is what he said:
We’re disappointed. I thought we were the better team. We created chances and we need to take them. Today was there for the taking for us and we should have won. It’s been a bit of a theme for us. But it’s not over yet. We’re still there and we’re still hoping to do it. On another day it could have been three or four. Our performances have improved but we can’t keep saying that. We need to win games, it’s as simple as that. Everyone gave everything for the shirt. The lads ran their socks off. I thought we looked the fitter team. It’s just disappointing we couldn’t get the three points. We’ve got to take the positives. The good thing is we’re creating chances, we’ve just got to take them now.
Immediately watching/reading about other football is probably the best possible (legal) method for erasing all memories of that game. May I recommend John Brewin on much-changed Liverpool against Fulham:
And Luke McLaughlin on Manchester City women against Everton women:
Final score: West Bromwich Albion 0-0 Newcastle United
90+4 mins: The best thing to be said about that match is that it has finished.
Do I have to watch that again tonight @BBCMOTD ?!!!#WBANEW
— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) March 7, 2021
90+3 mins: One more minute. Sixty more seconds. Yokuslu shoots high from at least 40 yards, Carroll comes on for Fraser, and that’s most of it gone.
90+1 mins: Into stoppage time. There will be three more minutes, and they start with Pereira curling a corner over a crowded penalty area and straight into touch.
90+2 mins: Pereira lifts a lovely ball into the area for Robson-Kanu, but there’s nobody in support for him to knock it down to.
89 mins: Maitland-Niles goes down under Willock’s challenge, just outside the penalty area. The referee is unmoved.
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88 mins: About five minutes to go in a must-win game for West Brom. Time to throw all their spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. What have they got? Anything at all?
86 mins: “This NUFC fan Is feeling really drowsy and a bit ill,” writes Alan Pugh. “Is my fire leaking carbon monoxide or is there another explanation?”
83 mins: Now Allardyce uses a couple of substitutions. Phillips and Diagne go off, and Grant and Robson-Kanu come on. Diagne has had a difficult task leading the line on his own today, and has done it pretty badly.
81 mins: Another good corner, this time from Gallagher on the left, and it flicks off the top of Shelvey’s head, off the top of Diagne’s head, and wide.
80 mins: Furlong wins a corner on the right which Pereira takes, and it might have been floating straight in had Dubravka not tipped it over the bar.
77 mins: For all Allardyce’s pre-match talk of the likelihood of fatigue after playing Everton on Thursday, and the need to use his substitutions, he hasn’t used his substitutions. Not any of them.
74 mins: Oooooh! Maitland-Niles takes on and profoundly betters Dummett on the West Brom right, cuts infield, and then sends a cut back behind Diagne, and it’s cleared!
71 mins: Chance! Willock carries the ball from his own half to the edge of the D before finally passing to Joelinton, who takes one touch to give himself room to shoot with his left foot. Had he shot towards the far post he might well score, but he goes the other way and Johnstone gobbles it up.
66 mins: The next 25 minutes are enormous for West Brom. Huge. Can they magic up a moment of quality and keep their fight against relegation alive? Will anything exciting ever happen?
62 mins: Townsend crosses from the left, and Diagne, freed perhaps by a little push on Dummett, heads wide. Lovely cross, that.
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60 mins: Save! Gayle runs towards the penalty area before pushing the ball to Willock on his right, whose shot would have snuck in at the near post had Johnstone not pushed it wide.
57 mins: Krafth has a shot for Newcastle that is 30 yards from goal when it leaves his boot and really never gets any closer. Dwight Gayle comes on, replacing Hendrick.
55 mins: Charitably, Lascalles’ diving attempt to block might have put Phillips off there. But really, to miss that target with that, from there, in this situation, is terribly, terribly poor.
54 mins: What a chance! Townsend crosses low from the left, and Phillips runs onto it and lifts it over the bar from eight yards with his left foot!
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53 mins: Pereira runs into the box, twists one way then the other, befuddles Clark, keeps twisting, allows Clark to get back at him, and then lays back for Yokuslu to sidefoot a shot wide from 20 yards, via a deflection.
52 mins: It’s very sunny in the Midlands today. That’s nice.
48 mins: Maitland-Niles’ cross floats over the head of Diagne and out of play. I think Diagne could have got to that had he committed to it, and it would have been a fantastic chance. But he didn’t.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! The second half has started, and the only way is up!
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“This is a horrendous game of football,” writes Scott Bassett, succinctly. “Newcastle have regressed so far under Steve Bruce, it’s mind-boggling. The squad at his disposal is much more talented than the Rafa Benitez squad of a few years ago and yet here they are reduced to Jamal Lascelles dribbling out from the back and pumping the ball into touch for no apparent reason. Both of these teams deserve to go down on this evidence, and they may very well do so.”
Half time: West Bromwich Albion 0-0 Newcastle United
45+2 mins: A half of low-confidence football from two low-confidence teams, and it ends without a goal.
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45+1 mins: There will be about one minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half.
43 mins: West Brom have a corner, which Dubravka comes out to batter away. Then they come again, but try to get a little elaborate on the edge of the area and eventually misplace a pass.
39 mins: Phillips plays the ball across the face of goal from the left, the kind of ball that looks like an invitation for someone to come along and tuck it away, but at the same time is so far from everyone that nobody has the remotest chance of doing so.
38 mins: A lovely cross from Fraser on the left, but it’s headed clear. If I had to bet on a scorer here it would probably be Newcastle, but neither side has come very close.
35 mins: Townsend crosses again, not his first decent delivery of the day, and this one is headed goalwards by Diagne, but it’s an easy save for Dubravka.
30 mins: Newcastle try a prepared corner routine, the ball being played short to Shelvey. He has a first-time shot through given the way he approached the ball it was a miracle he managed to get it on target, and there was little pace on it, but it took a couple of deflections on its way to goal and Johnstone eventually beat it away awkwardly with a hand.
29 mins: You can tell when a game isn’t exactly thrilling when commentators decide to tell that story about the time they went to that restaurant once.
Ally McCoist reminiscing about his night in Sydney with Sam Allardyce.
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) March 7, 2021
What a treat 😂#PLonPrime pic.twitter.com/WDP9qg5wqt
28 mins: Chance! Furlong’s long throw is flicked on to Diagne, who in mitigation doesn’t have a lot of time and has a defender in front of him, but shanks his volley wide off his shin.
27 mins: West Brom keep the ball from a while, work it from left to right. They have so far parlayed this possession into two throw-ins.
22 mins: Another ball through to Joelinton, who this time is pulled back by Bartley. The officials don’t spot this, and Amazon’s commentator generously says the incident occurred “almost too close” to the linesman, as in about five feet from him.
21 mins: Chance! Townsend crosses from the left and it drops to the left foot of Pereira, pretty much on the penalty spot, but he doesn’t get clean contact and the ball runs through to Dubravka.
19 mins: Fraser lifts the ball over the West Brom defence, and Joelinton is penalised for bulldozing through Townsend in his desperation to reach it. “Any idea what’s happened to Grady Diangana, who West Ham sold to WBA earlier in the season?” wonders Rob Lewis. “It caused huge ructions, Mr West Ham Mark Noble doing his nut over it. Seems a long time ago looking at the table today.” He’s been heavily involved this season, at least until a thigh injury early in the new year, and more recently an unspecified non-Covid illness.
15 mins: Phillips goes on a nice run down the West Brom left. His cross floats straight to Dubravka, but it’s good to see someone doing something with the ball other than get rid of it.
12 mins: Joelinton is played in on the right, outpaces his marker with worrying/encouraging ease and tries to square to Fraser, but it’s cut out.
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10 mins: The ball hasn’t spent a lot of time on the ground so far. Johnstone, the West Brom keeper, has the ball, and whacks it down the ground to Dubravka, who rolls the ball out to Dummett, who hammers it back down the ground to Johnstone.
6 mins: Chance for Newcastle! They break, and Fraser is released down the left. Joelinton and Willock are to his right, and he tries to find the latter but the pass goes behind him, and what would have been a clear shot on goal and a phenomenal goalscoring opportunity is wasted.
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4 mins: West Brom also win a corner; Pereira’s delivery is underhit and cleared, and then Gallagher’s is overhit.
3 mins: An early corner for the visitors, which is cleared, re-centred by Willock, and cleared again.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! West Brom get the game started!
The players are out! Newcastle are in bright yellow, the officials in shocking pink. Time for the feet to do the talking.
‘If we are going to get anywhere near them, three points is vital for us today’
Sam Allardyce has a chat with Amazon’s microphone-wielder, about Thursday’s game at Everton:
Well, apart from the result it was our best performance since I’ve been at the club against Everton and really we should have delivered more in terms of points, but we have to say the players played that well, how can I make any changes? Recovery time is something we’re going to have to keep an eye on, and they won’t have the same energy they had on Thursday night. They will in the beginning, they know how big the game is, but we’ll have to use our substitutes as we need to.
We can only go out and play as well as we played on Thursday night, but more importantly we have to start creating and taking our chances. We’re creating them but not taking them. A win for us is critical, obviously. It’s massive. We’ve got to try to get the three points to get closer to Fulham and to get closer to Newcastle and Brighton. If we are going to get anywhere near them, three points is vital for us today.
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Steve Bruce has a chat. He says he has picked Paul Dummett “for his experience, and we know what to expect from West Brom from set pieces and the threat they pose in that area”, and there’s also this, on his bust-up with Matt Ritchie:
Look, these things happen up and down the country. Unfortunately it’s got too much airtime. As far as I was concerned it was done and dusted within 24 hours. We move on. Let’s hope we can galvanise if that’s the right word, and get a result.
And this, on life without Almiron and Saint-Maximin, and a squad containing nobody who has scored more than two goals this season:
I mean, look, it’s difficult. When you put in Callum as well, you have your front three players. But we simply have to find a way. We have good players to come into those positions so let’s hope they can produce something a bit special and make sure we win the match. We had a really decent season last year, and our top goalscorer was Jonjo Shelvey with six. We know it’s not easy, but it is what it is, we have to find a way.
The teams!
The teams are in! West Brom stick with the side that lost to Everton on Thursday while Newcastle make three changes: Lewis, Almiron and Saint-Maximin are out; Dummett, Fraser and Hendrick are in.
West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, O’Shea, Bartley, Townsend, Yokuslu, Matheus Pereira, Gallagher, Maitland-Niles, Phillips, Diagne. Subs: Robson-Kanu, Ajayi, Robinson, Livermore, Sawyers, Peltier, Snodgrass, Button, Ahearne-Grant.
Newcastle: Dubravka, Krafth, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett, Hendrick, Shelvey, Hayden, Willock, Joelinton, Fraser. Subs: Carroll, Ritchie, Gayle, Lewis, Fernandez, Manquillo, Murphy, Darlow, Sean Longstaff.
Referee: Martin Atkinson.
📋 Team news is in at The Hawthorns. We’re unchanged for today’s clash with @NUFC. COYB! 🔵⚪️@MonsterEnergy | #WBANEW
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) March 7, 2021
🚨 TEAM-NEWS 🚨
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) March 7, 2021
HWTL! ⚫️⚪️
Hello world!
What a day this is for Newcastle, what a moment. Sure, they are 17th and have impressed few people this season, but today, right now, right here, they have an opportunity to leave a difficult week emphatically behind them and extend their lead over 19th-placed West Bromwich Albion from nine points to 12, with 10 games remaining, and effectively leave themselves with only one relegation place still to worry about. Steve Bruce said this week that his team “will do our utmost to get out of the trouble, unfortunately, we’re in”, and that means perform, today.
(I wasn’t present at his press conference, but it seems more than usually rambling. For example: “More than ever, I’m 100% committed to trying to get us out of the trouble we’re in. I think the players are too. I’ve got 100% faith in them, and I think that remains vital to us. So, no, just because things get tough ... I always knew things would be tough. Maybe it’s tougher than I thought, but I always knew it was going to be tough. It’s a tough gig this one, there’s no disputing that. But I’ll try my best, like I always do, to make sure that we’re OK.”)
Sam Allardyce’s response to stories about blazing rows between Bruce and Matt Ritchie was also enjoyable: “It’s a disagreement, what’s wrong with it? I like disagreements.” He agrees with disagreements. He finds disagreeing agreeable. That really is splendidly contrary of him. Anyway, it goes without saying that this is an enormously important game for the Baggies; whereas Newcastle really can’t afford to lose, they really can’t afford not to win ... and you can’t really afford not to keep an eye on it.
Welcome! This could be a cracker*!
* He said, with no confidence whatsoever.
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