Three Newcastle positives are clear to see from nervy Nottingham Forest win
John Gibson
4 – 5 minutes
What is it with Newcastle United? Jekyll and Hyde doesn’t come into it.
They are either higher than a kite or lower than a snake’s belly. There is no in between. Either United are slaughtering Arsenal three times, Nottingham Forest three times, winning at Spurs and Man U or they are losing home to West Ham, Bournemouth and Brighton and surrendering abjectly at Man City. Would the real Newcastle please stand up? This uncertainty of who I’m about to see is killing me.
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Geordies either live in paradise or are twitching like a fried egg.
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Even this crazy game was one of two vastly contrasting 45 minutes. First-half joy when after literally gifting Forest an early lead – Jacob Murphy gave the ball away and Nick Pope left himself stranded – they blew their opponents out of the water with four blistering goals in only 11 minutes.
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However second-half it was back to the bad old ways of the Etihad. Passive, sloppy, resigned to life’s dark side. The scoreline went from 4-1 to 4-3 and, boy, were we glad of the final whistle.
Let me pause for a minute to get my breath and then take a few positives out of mayhem because we need things to cling onto in these see-saw times. Alexander Isak scored two more to take his PL total to 19 and leapfrog Chris Wood, teenager Lewis Miley scored the best goal of the seven to bring us back into the game while looking a star of the future, and Lewis Hall was both assist master and all-round road runner.
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Wood never got a kick and comparisons with Isak are futile. One is an honest labourer getting deserved joy in the autumn of his career and the other is a fabulous all-round footballer with quick feet, vision, finishing power and pace. You work out which is which.
Isak’s second was the 50th of his PL career and came one minute and 51 seconds after his penalty, as cheeky an effort as you are likely to see.
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However because United returned to the winning enclosure let us not presume that glorious fulfillment automatically lies just round the corner. Liverpool do, they hold our future in their steely grasp. Crucial Premier League points up for auction at Anfield on Wednesday, the first domestic trophy in 70 years the prize a couple of weeks later beneath Wembley’s arch.
What will happen, will it be Newcastle United or Newcastle Unhinged? I honestly don’t know.
St James Park on the Sabbath took me back to another meeting here between the two clubs in 1974. It was in the FA Cup en route to Wembley and United, 3-1 down and with 10 men, came storming back to beat Forest by the same 4-3 scoreline only for the FA to rule the game void because of a pitch invasion and demand a replay on a neutral ground. This was just as chaotic as 51 years ago but, please, will the PL not order a replay. My old heart couldn’t stand it!
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