Dominic Scurr reflects on Newcastle United's 2-0 defeat at Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.
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00:00 Newcastle United beating 2-0 here at Crystal Palace this evening. Deserved defeat. Palace
00:07 much better in all departments. Newcastle didn't register a shot on goal until the 86th
00:13 minute. And after all the positivity and encouragement built up from recent games going into this,
00:21 four games unbeaten, that 4-0 win against Spurs 10 days ago. Eddie Howe actually said
00:26 the 10 day break probably worked against his side. They looked rusty, which is fair enough.
00:32 Newcastle just didn't really get going. Eddie Howe said he was baffled by the fact that
00:38 his players just seemed afraid of shooting at times. They got into some decent areas.
00:42 Alexander Isak played through on goal just behind me. Couldn't get a shot away. Harvey
00:47 Barnes again, that box, gets to the edge of it, tries a backheel and it doesn't come off.
00:52 And then, yeah, second half, Palace take the lead. Newcastle came out the block slow. Jean-Philippe
00:59 Metteter gives Newcastle the lead. Sloppy defensively from Newcastle. Jake Murphy dawdling
01:05 on the ball, plays it to Emil Kvaf. Clearance, goes straight to Palace and then a decent
01:10 goal from their perspective. Paul from Newcastle. Metteter gives his side the lead in good form.
01:17 Another Palace striker as well. Newcastle had a spell in the game. Obviously Palace
01:22 only just playing at the weekend. Newcastle, the fresher legs you'd like to say, or like
01:28 to think, came into it for maybe about 10 minutes. They had a couple of, I wouldn't
01:35 even say chances. They got the ball in and around the penalty area. Sean Longstaff had
01:39 a penalty shout pulled down by Will Hughes but it's one of those. The referee doesn't
01:42 give it in the game and is VAR really going to overturn it? I think if the referee does
01:47 give it, it probably is a penalty and stays as a penalty. But the fact he doesn't give
01:52 it, it's probably not a clear and obvious error to make. Eddie Howe named an unchanged
01:59 side from the Spurs game, expecting a similar result but it couldn't have been more different
02:06 to the Spurs game. Newcastle struggled to attack, struggled to keep the ball in possession.
02:11 Really poor. So all the good faith and positivity and encouragement and praise Eddie Howe built
02:18 up for his tactical masterclass against Spurs is almost tarred really by the fact that they've
02:25 tried the same or similar again in terms of the shape and the formation and it's just
02:30 had the complete opposite result. So a bit naive in some ways but again it's potentially
02:36 down to personnel. Newcastle down to the bare bones sort of. Callum Wilson back in the squad
02:41 tonight but only just returning after two months out and having to play Emile Craft
02:46 centre-back Jacob Murphy right back, it's not ideal. Tino Livermanto was on the bench,
02:52 an unused sub, still struggling with an ankle injury. Eddie Howe said when asked him about
02:57 that after the game and Lewis Hall was probably the only person who was threatening to potentially
03:05 be in the starting line-up coming in on that left side and then Dan Byrne moving back into
03:10 the middle but it didn't happen and yeah Newcastle second best in all departments tonight, five
03:15 games to go now. Still there or thereabouts in terms of the European places still in their
03:21 hands but this is a missed opportunity for Newcastle and now they move ahead into that
03:31 game against Sheffield United where basically just need a win. They should win but how often
03:37 have we said that going into a game particularly for Newcastle against a team who are effectively
03:45 already relegated or definitely very much struggling at the bottom of the table. So
03:50 yeah Newcastle have a chance to put that right on Saturday back at St James' Park, still
03:55 all in their hands in terms of the fight for European places but definitely a disappointing
04:00 evening tonight and a setback in terms of that push for a top six, top seven finish.