Newcastle played their first home game of pre-season tonight against Serie A side, Atalanta who gave Newcastle target, Duvan Zapata a start with the Magpies coming out 1-0 winners.
After a shaky start, both for the team and the NUFC TV live stream, Newcastle eventually settled into a rhythm in the first half with some nice passing and exciting attacking play. The Magpies survived a couple of injury scares early on with both Trippier and Targett down receiving treatment at two different points in the half.
Newcastle are crying out for a striker and a winger in this transfer window, however, it was Chris Wood who gave the magpies the lead on 39 minutes with a coolly taken penalty after Elliot Anderson was brought down in the box.
Almiron looked extremely lively in the first half, no doubt still riding the high from his recent goalscoring form. Fraser and Murphy also looked up for it, chasing lost causes and relishing the opportunity to beat their man.
The second half kicked off with Newcastle picking up where they left off, dominating possession and creating half-chances. The best of which fell to Miguel Almiron on 59 minutes as he received the ball on the edge of the six yard box, turned his man inside out and tried to curl in a placed shot into the bottom corner, only for the leg of the ‘keeper to keep him from notching another pre-season goal.
Do you think Anderson has earned a chance this season?AbsolutelyNah, another loan is needed |
Atalanta had an appeal for a penalty on 65 minutes but the referee who was having none of it. A break in play followed shortly which allowed Atalanta to make five substitutions. This seemed to buoy the Italian side as they enjoyed a spell of possession albeit without really testing Nick Pope’s goal.
Duvan Zapata made way in the next batch of substitutions by Atalanta having not really impacted the game at all. Dan Burn had him in his pocket all night and even sent him home with a ripped shirt for his trouble.
Eddie Howe made his first change on 82 minutes as Matty Longstaff replaced Jacob Murphy. Much like Atalanta’s first batch of subs, this one change by Howe injected a bit of pace into their play with a good chance falling to Matt Targett on 84 minutes following a nice flick on by Chris Wood.
Matt Bondswell and Dylan Stephenson replaced Ryan Fraser and Chris Wood on 90 minutes with just one minute of stoppage time to be played. Stephenson had just enough time to make his presence felt, but ultimately it came to nothing.
It was a game where everybody played well, but the biggest take away for me is that Elliot Anderson absolutely has to be given his shot this season. He’s played a few times in pre-season and has always looked like a solid player. He’s definitely earned his chance.
Tomorrow at 3pm sees another friendly at home against Spanish side, Atheltic Bilbao where we will likely see the likes of Botman, Guimaraes, Joelinton and Wilson.
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