Newcastle United ended their preseason preparations with a penalty shootout defeat against Strasbourg after a 1-1 draw at St. James’ Park.
Less than 24 hours after a different Newcastle XI lost 2-1 to Bayer Leverkusen, Jaissle completely reshuffled his team for the second game of the VisitMalta Weekender. Ewen Jaouen, Aladji Bamba and Bazoumana Touré made their St James’ Park bows, while newly appointed captain Dan Burn started alongside the returning Fabian Schar.
William Osula gave Matthias Jaissle’s
side a first-half lead, but Gessime Yassine equalized after the break before the Ligue 1 visitors prevailed 3-2 from the spot.
Newcastle immediately looked livelier than it had against Leverkusen. Jacob Murphy crossed for Osula inside two minutes, forcing Filip Jorgensen into a nice save, before Burn headed narrowly wide from another Murphy delivery. Leo Shahar also threatened from right-back, only for Yoann Becker to make a timely intervention.
Strasbourg gradually worked their way into the contest and came close when Andrew Omobamidele struck the crossbar. Newcastle continued to create the clearer openings, though. Bamba won possession high before Osula cut the ball back for Toure, who fired over, while Joe Willock was twice denied by Jorgensen as the hosts increased the pressure.
The breakthrough finally arrived in the 38th minute. Shahar released Murphy down the right, and his low cross was met by Osula, who got in front of his marker and finished from close range. Newcastle should have gone into halftime with a greater advantage, with Osula forcing another save after Willock raced onto Jacob Ramsey’s pass.
Jaissle replaced Burn and Schar at halftime, leaving Newcastle with an extremely young defensive unit, but his side continued creating opportunities. Osula fired over before Toure released him behind the Strasbourg defense, only for the striker to dink the ball on the wrong side of the post.
Those misses became costly in the 69th minute. Ramsey lost possession near his own penalty area, and Strasbourg punished the mistake immediately, with Yassine firing beyond Jaouen to make it 1-1.
Newcastle still had opportunities to win it, while Jaouen produced a late stop to prevent Yassine scoring again and ensure the friendly would be decided from the penalty spot. Once there, Jaouen saved two Strasbourg penalties, but Newcastle were unable to take advantage. Osula and Ramsey both fired over the crossbar before Bamba struck the post, letting Strasbourg win the shootout 3-2.
Newcastle now turns all of its attention to next Sunday’s Premier League opener against Liverpool after ending preseason with a few encouraging flashes but more concerns than not as the club officially transitions into a new era.
Where are the Magpies headed? Only time will tell, but it’s not looking so well.
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