Well, this game started badly, and almost immediately it got much, much worse.
Newcastle needed a response after their derby defeat last weekend against Sunderland, and respond they did. With the stadium rocking, they came out of the blocks at a million miles an hour and we just stood doe-eyed waiting for the bright lights to smack us in the face.
It took barely three minutes for them to open the scoring, catching us in possession and quickly generating a ball into the box for their big man up front.
And Newcastle didn’t relent. If anything, they ratcheted up the pressure. Woltemade made two by minute twenty-two, and we probably were a bit lucky to not be behind by more at the break.
Chelsea showed a bit of life towards the end of the first-half, but we could not find a quality final ball. We did find a quality hand, as Pedro Neto bounced a ball beyond the Newcastle goalkeeper … alas, this is the foot-ball, not the hand-ball.
But there was little sign of the response to come.
Inexplicably, the second half began in perfect fashion, with Reece James scoring a wonderful free kick after Palmer was fouled. Chelsea looked for a quick second with Newcastle on their heels, but out final touches let us down.
And just when it looked like our impetus was fading, Joao Pedro took advantage of some passive defending and a slight slip from Malick Thiaw, and made no mistake 1-v-1 against Ramsdale to draw us level halfway through the second period.
The equalizer prompted the home side to come back out of their shells, with the game turning into quite an open affair. Both teams had chances to win it from there, but we could not find the requisite finish or final pass despite quite a few promising opportunities. Garnacho kept shooting high, Caicedo just missed with a long-range effort … while Divey McDiverson Barnes missed a sitter at the other.
Somehow, neither team managed to find the winner, so the spoils would be shared. Excellent comeback; just too bad about that start.
Carefree.
- Horrendous first half performance prompting zero half-time subs
- Petulance in spades; only hurting ourselves with silly yellows; haven’t we learned this lesson already?
- That said, this refereeing performance was random, inconsistent, and frequently infuriating
- Next up: Aston Villa at home, next Saturday night
- KTBFFH
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