Newcastle didn’t really do much wrong in their 2-0 defeat against Arsenal – apart from the obvious and important ‘score the really good chances, yeah?’ – but it’s results that matter in May and that top-four spot looks far more precarious now.
It’s very easy to get drawn in by ‘results bias’ after games like that. Martin Odegaard smacks one through Sven Botman’s legs and into the bottom corner. Fabian Schar diverts one past Nick Pope and it’s “great game management from Arsenal” and “did Newcastle pick the wrong team?”.
But if Jacob Murphy scores instead of hitting the post after 70 seconds… If… If… If…
Apart from the very obvious point of not actually taking their chances, Newcastle didn’t really do a lot wrong here in a game where any result would have been fair enough based on different phases of the game. But it was also great game management from Arsenal, and Newcastle probably did pick the wrong team.
Newcastle were sensational in the first 10 minutes. In terms of a from-the-whistle blitz the general level really wasn’t that far below the Spurs nonsense the other week. But Arsenal just about got through it and, while always prone to defensive catastrophe themselves, are clearly made from far sterner stuff than whatever this current Spurs team is.
And the result means that the decision to start Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak in tandem for the first time has to go down as a failure even if it could all have looked very different.
That’s just undeniable, sadly. A quick look at the scoring record of both players in the last couple of months versus the chances that came their way today cannot be ignored. The fact both strikers played pretty well doesn’t change that; if anything it makes it worse. Makes it look more like an issue of structure rather than a more easily explained off day for one or both men.
However willing both players were, however astute and industrious their general play the cold facts are that Newcastle’s centre-back duo had more attempts and more attempts on target today than the centre-forward duo.
Wilson had no shots on or off target in 77 minutes having scored eight goals in his previous eight league appearances; Isak two shots off target having scored seven in his previous nine.
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Newcastle still created chances, but in open play they fell mainly to Jacob…
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