Wolves 1-2 Newcastle United: Joe Buck match reaction

Shields Gazette

Joe Buck reacts to Newcastle United's 2-1 win over Wolves in the Premier League. Stunning strikes from Fabian Schar and Harvey Barnes earned Eddie Howe's side the win at Molineux.

Transcript

00:00So, you're guessing an unbeaten start to the season goes on as they defeat Wolves 2-1 here

00:06in the Premier League. Now, it was a similar tale really for Eddie Howe's side. They started

00:12the game well for the first maybe 20 minutes or so, which is longer than they'd done in

00:16any other game, but then let Wolves back in the route really, without testing Sam Johnson

00:21too much in goal. We'll come up with that, but obviously first the big decision for Howe

00:25and his team, of course, and there was a couple of dilemmas. The big one was whether he'd

00:30go to Sandro Tonali or Sean Longstaff in midfield. That was probably the change you were expecting.

00:35And then, obviously, whether he'd stick with Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Harvey

00:39Barnes up front, or whether he'd shake it up. Turns out, he shook that up. He went with

00:42Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy as the front three, and picked Sean Longstaff

00:47over Sandro Tonali. So, a couple of big calls from Eddie Howe heading to Wolves. Now, obviously,

00:52their major change from Spurs' win was Lewis hauling for Lloyd Kelly and Fabian Scherr back,

00:57which is the Fabian Scherr one's expected, maybe not all for Kelly. But, you know why,

01:01it was some big calls from Eddie Howe, and they didn't, as much as they've done in the

01:03game, it hadn't really paid off, I think, at Newcastle. It started well, but Wolves

01:08really grew into the game, and they'll be disappointed by the goal they conceded. Newcastle

01:10on the attack, Sean Longstaff's three-ball gets intercepted, and within five to ten seconds,

01:14Wolves have got the ball in their net. Strand-Larsson does very well hold off Dan Byrne. He puts

01:18the ball across, and he finds Lamina at the back, he's like a brilliant dummy, to be fair,

01:25in the middle to set Lamina up and give him all the time and space to fight home past

01:28Steve Portman. At that point, he gets a head-and-foot break, one-nil down. Disappointed in the first

01:32half, they would have been disappointed going behind, but Eddie Howe rang the change at

01:35half-time. Now, we would guess two of them were tactical, with Joe Linton and Longstaff

01:39coming off, but one he probably didn't want to do was Alexander Isak. He was substituted,

01:43he went down just before the end of the first half. He had tissues in his nose, he was bleeding,

01:50so he didn't come back out, so we'll be interested to see what happens with him. I'm sure Eddie

01:53Howe will update on that, but yes, trouble change at half-time. Tonali, Harvey Barnes,

02:01came on, and so did Joe Willock. It took a while for them to really make an impact. Wolves

02:08hit the post through Strand-Larsson and really had a couple of decent chances, and Nick Portman

02:12made some good saves. Billy Gaston finally got the way back into the game, Fabian Schaer

02:16with a trademark Fabian Schaer goal, although it did take a deflection, but it's really

02:19hard to take it from him. He picks up the ball at the edge of the box, has a shot, flicks

02:24off Craig Dawson's head as he goes to clear it, and loops over Sam Johnstone. From our

02:28view anyway, it didn't look like it took a deflection, it was a wicked deflection, it

02:31did wrong for the keeper, but he did just carry it in. That was 1-1, and then two minutes

02:35later, Harvey Barnes, super sub, doing exactly what Harvey Barnes has done throughout his

02:40time with Newcastle United. That's his seventh goal, fifth off the bench, but he picked up

02:44the ball on the left. You take a couple of touches, as soon as he picks up the ball on

02:47the left and goes inside, you know what he's going to do. You think, can the Wolves defender

02:50stop him? They try him, but it's in vain. Harvey Barnes has put in some fantastic effort

02:54on the far top corner, it was a brilliant goal, absolutely magnificent goal, and two

02:58really good goals from Newcastle, and they were able to hold on to that. Wolves gave

03:02them a few scares later on, Nick Portman made a good save, a couple of half-hearted penalty

03:06shots, I think, and one shot that was potentially going in, but it hit Craig Dawson, standing

03:10off for a position, and it went wide, but yeah, it was... Newcastle weren't at their

03:14best, I would think overall, you'd probably give them maybe 6 out of 10, maybe, but you

03:18can't really say that when they've won games. How many times have Newcastle United put on

03:24a... never brilliant performance, entertaining performance, I'd say, and came away with a

03:28point, or came away with a defeat, and they're not as entertaining, they're far from entertaining,

03:32they probably haven't hit that, nowhere near hit top gear in any of their games, certainly

03:36not for a prolonged period of time. And yes, they'll probably leave Molyneux very lucky

03:40to get the win, but you know what, sometimes in football, if you're not playing your best,

03:43you need that bit of luck, and they got that bit of luck today, with a deflected goal,

03:46but you can't take anything away from the winner, it was absolutely brilliant. And yeah,

03:49the only concern you think, leaving this, is exactly what that injury's going to be,

03:52if it's... if it is a concussion injury, that might put his participation in Fulham next

03:57weekend in jeopardy, but he might also put his participation against Wimbledon in jeopardy,

04:00so there's a couple of... once in about four big hours. It was a win for Newcastle, that's

04:04a good thing, they've got the win on the board, they're up third place now, 10 points from their

04:08first four games, that's an absolutely fantastic start, and yeah, you'll leave Molyneux still a

04:14little worried about performance levels, but results are coming, and that's the main thing,

04:16keep the results coming, anyhow we'll take these level performances all day long. But yeah,

04:21it's certainly room for improvement still, but that's a fantastic thing, because they've got 10

04:26points from 12... 10 points from a possible 12, 10 points from their first four, and they head

04:29to Fulham next week, still unbeaten, with three wins in their first four games, it's a brilliant

04:33start to the season, one that will continue at Molyneux, so yeah, performance level not brilliant,

04:37but good result nonetheless, and Gatton Gatineau win 2-1 against Wimbledon.

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