Newcastle United secured a crucial victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers, overcoming a defensively-minded opponent and extending their impressive winning streak. The match featured a scintillating goal by Alexander Isak, who capitalized on a brilliant team build-up.
Winning at Spurs and Man Utd as part of a magnificent eight game winning streak was beyond brilliant, but now it was time to back it up. Against functional opponents at home that are likely to play a defensive game and look to mug us, is the order of the week. We needed to hope Wolverhampton more resembled the early season bottom-dwellers they were, than the recipients of a semi-recent new manager bounce they had threatened to become.
The previous night’s results had helped matters, as seven top half rivals dropped points and we went into this knowing a win would send us fourth, while maintaining the feel good factor of the recent run. Surely though everyone must have had thoughts of whenever things have looked up this season, and United have met the challenge of jumping into a Champions League place, getting in touch of top spot or jumping right up the table, by providing an horrendous display against your Fulhams or your West Hams. It felt irrational but the fear was there. This fear was massively exaggerated for me by the fact I attended the game with Mike DelTergo, a member of the Philadelphia Mags for 15+ years, making his first ever trip to Newcastle and fulfilling a dream by entering St James’. This version of NUFC is so superior to many, many past incarnations but you can’t shake the fear that they’ll just Newcastle it all up and shatter the vision of someone who has fallen in love with the club from afar. I realise that international fans can be a difficult subject for some in these times of ticketing squabbles, but you’d need a heart of stone not to appreciate the enthusiasm of someone who has fallen in love with our club, our city and, well, us, the Geordies, realising a long held ambition with pure, unadulterated glee. Everything seemed to be clicking for Mike, as the crowd was engaged from the off, the pre-match flags were magnificent and the songs he had learned so religiously in Pennsylvania were given regular airings. It was humbling to see someone so overwhelmingly ecstatic to be here. Everything was falling into place except for maybe that one thing: United weren’t finding the breakthrough. After an excess of Wolves possession in the first five minutes,took a firm hold on the game, but as expected, the visitors had a packed rearguard that was proving a challenge to break down. Murphy’s early effort was saved by Jose Sa, who can be a massive pain in the backside to get past when he’s in the mood. A similar occurrence transpired when Murph destroyed his marker to wallop in a vicious drive that Sa beat away desperately, with Isak just about unable to create something from the loose ball. For their part, Wolves created a moment of alarm when Guedes shot badly wide when well-placed. It looked like Dubravka had it covered, but it was a slightly scary break given that any attempt by the visitors to cross the halfway line, seemed to have been headed away by Dan Burn up to this point. Burn’s slightly advanced defensive position seemed to suggest Howe had the tactical measure of yet another managerial victim, or BDB may have just had advanced confidence that with what early signs suggest is Prime Botman next to him, he can be a bit more adventurous in his defensive play. I’m sure Burn nutmegged more than one opponent in tonight’s game. When a lovely move from back to front involving about nine slick passes ended with Isak firing narrowly wide, I felt a bit conflicted. This game was a fine exhibition, constantly flowing (for which, some credit has to go to the referee, who was excellent) but without the breakthrough, the fear of United being on the end of a mugging remained slouched in the corner, always visible out of the corner of the eye like a bag of used Christmas wrapping paper you know you need to throw out, but you’re too full of turkey and Toblerones to bother with. Then it came, and fitting with the velvet flow of the game, it was a move of scintillating near-perfection. A Wolves attack was snuffed out by Bruno and Murphy seared away, skipping past a couple of opponents before sending his pass slightly behind Isak. The man who will never play for Arsenal picked the ball up and steamed towards the box, then continued running parallel to the goal, playing a one-two with Gordon before unleashing his shot. He was aided by a healthy deflection (hence “near” perfection) but it nestled in the corner of the goal in a highly satisfying manner. Mike went absolutely nuts, the dream realised of seeing his team score in person. I did too, although there was more than a tinge of relief
NEWCASTLE UNITED WOLVES PREMIER LEAGUE ALEXANDER ISAK GOAL VICTORY WINNING STREAK
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