This was the classic game of four halves, with Chelsea looking likely to blow us away at the outset before we fought back to head into the break at 1-1.
While we were probably the better side in the second half of the second half, conceding after 75 seconds of the interval proved to be our undoing as our hosts earned a 2-1 win.
Despite the closeness of the scoreline, this was another largely abject display from Eddie Howe and the players, with our confidence seemingly on the floor at the moment.
Here's how we scored everyone involved, with a high of '7' for a certain young full-back and a low of '1' for one of the worst refereeing performances we've ever seen.
(Please prepare yourself for the shortest 'Good' section we've ever written.)
Lewis Hall got an excellent assist for our equaliser and was easily the most solid of the back four defensively, too, despite having a tough assignment up against Noni Madueke. He led the side in terms of defensive interventions, including one last-man tackle on Pedro Neto to prevent a chance, and made three further key passes. He was legitimately the only bright spot on another dark day for Newcastle United fans.
Simon Hooper put in one of the worst refereeing performances we have ever seen, though we must give him a slither of credit for overturning his shocking decision to give a penalty against Dan Burn at 2-1. Before that, he missed one of the most obvious free kicks going on Bruno Guimarães on the edge of Chelsea's box and generally just seemed to have no control over the contest. When both sets of fans sing 'You don't know what you're doing' at you in the same game, you know you're having a stinker...
Things are beginning to look a bit dicey for Eddie Howe, who just doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes. Cole Palmer was always likely to have acres of space to play in between our defence and midfield, and so it proved, while our continuing lack of threat from attacking set plays is infuriating. The 4-3-3 has been well and truly found out, yet we keep persisting with it, while it's difficult to say anyone in the squad is playing at anywhere near their top level so far this season. He needs to sort it out. Quickly.
Dan Burn spent his midweek getting the wits scared out of him in a haunted house, but he'll probably be having nightmares about Nicolas Jackson tonight. Burn was atrocious in the first half here and seemed to take an age to wake up after Hooper blew the whistle, being caught out three times in the opening four minutes. He must take a large portion of the blame for Chelsea's opener and while he did improve after the break, this was still an afternoon to forget for our number 33.
At the other end of the pitch, Alexander Isak might have scored our first goal from open play in an aeon but he was tragic otherwise. His awful control and hold-up play were to blame for both Chelsea's goals, while his pure greed when set away by Fabian Schär in the second half was unforgivable. He did have a couple of decent moments aside from the goal, but the truth is that his contribution from open play has been well below par for a long, long time now.
Miguel Almirón and Harvey Barnes hardly provided the Swede with sterling support, however, and must also shoulder the blame for our lack of threat at Stamford Bridge. Miggy had our first chance of the match and finished atrociously, as usual, while Barnes had a hand in Isak's equaliser but spent most of his time in Malo Gusto's pocket. The former Leicester winger is too weak and one-dimensional, though only started due to Anthony Gordon's injury.
Fabian Schär has struggled for consistency this season and this was another up-and-down game for the former Swiss international. Like Burn, he looked like a fish out of water when playing a high line in the early stages and his laboured attempt to foul Neto in the build-up to Chelsea's opener was hard to watch. Palmer made him look like a mug on more than one occasion, too, though we have to give Schär the usual credit for his passing out from the back.
You would be forgiven for thinking Nick Pope was buttering his gloves every time the camera was off him today. What exactly is the problem with catching the ball when it's not coming into the box with that much pace? The less said about his attempt to save Palmer's winner at his near the post the better, too, while his kicking was typically pathetic. He made a decent enough save from Mykhaylo Mudryk at 2-1, but we need the Pope of two seasons ago back urgently.
Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães weren't terrible, just a bit poor for very different reasons. The Italian was barely involved in proceedings, while the Brazilian was all over the place but veered from the sublime to the ridiculous with his passing. In truth, along with Isak, these are the two members of our starting eleven that we should expect 7/10 performances from pretty much every week. We've been getting far from that from both of them this season.
Sean Longstaff hasn't done too badly from the bench recently but a couple of decent tackles aside he was more of a hindrance than a help to our slim chances of grabbing a late equaliser. His passing in the final third is an embarrassment at times and he's far too easily muscled off the ball, but you knew this already and here we still are.
Jacob Murphy, Will Osula, and Lloyd Kelly weren't any better than Longy, mind. Murphy offered no creation whatsoever in his 31 minutes, Osula only managed a single touch in his 19 and Kelly spent the majority of his 19 pulling blue shirts. We might've been better off leaving them all on the sidelines.
Tino Livramento started slowly, like many in black and white, but grew into the contest and was one sloppy bit of marking of Neto away from joining his good friend Lewis Hall in the 'Good' section. He was largely to blame for Chelsea's opener when letting the winger in behind him and also lost out to the Portuguese in a one-on-one on the byline shortly after that to almost give up a chance. He had the biggest hand of anyone in our equaliser, however, and dealt well with Neto and later Mudryk in the second half.
We're not sure what to make of Joelinton this season, as he's nowhere near his best. He wasn't bad here by any stretch, but he's just not impacting games anywhere near as much as he has done previously. It could be time to push him forward into the front three to give Joe Willock a chance, as the balance between Joe, Bruno, and Sandro isn't quite right and is hurting us badly.
Speaking of Joe Willock, this was a decent enough showing from the bench for the ex-Arsenal man. His first action was to make a headed chance for Isak, who promptly wasted it, and he was a visible improvement over Joelinton in terms of his attacking contribution. With a run of games, he could get back to being one of our better players, but he's another who has flattered to deceive lately.
Finally, our hosts Chelsea looked imperious at points and there was a genuine fear that they could run up an embarrassing score against us at the start. However, when we made tactical adjustments and just generally got a grip on things they struggled to look much better than we did on what was yet another off day on the road. That doesn't bode all too well for them, but as long as they've got Palmer they've got a chance.
We're trying desperately not to be too harsh with our scoring this season, but it's getting harder and harder as the weeks go by...
The XI
Nick Pope – 5
Tino Livramento – 6
Fabian Schär – 5
Dan Burn – 4
Lewis Hall – 7 ⭐️ (off 89')
Sandro Tonali – 5 (off 68')
Bruno Guimarães (c) – 5
Joelinton – 6 (off 89')
Miguel Almirón – 4 (off 68')
Alexander Isak – 4
Harvey Barnes – 4 (off 68')
The Subs
Joe Willock – 6 (on 68')
Jacob Murphy – 5 (on 68')
Sean Longstaff – 5 (on 68')
Will Osula – 5 (on 89')
Lloyd Kelly – 5 (on 89')
The Gaffer
Eddie Howe – 4
The Opposition
Chelsea – 6
The Ref
Simon Hooper – 1
Well, what do you know? It's Chelsea again! This time at St James' Park, thankfully, and in the EFL Cup. The Blues will head to Gallowgate on Wednesday evening for a 7.45 p.m. (GMT) kick-off that'll be shown live on Sky.
Before today's game, we said we'd take a cup win over a league win. We stand by that, especially when Chelsea could well field a second XI as they have been doing in the Europa Conference League. Imagine losing to their second XI, though...
Howay the lads!
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
10 | 13 | 25 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
10 | 10 | 23 |
3 |
Nottingham Forest
|
10 | 7 | 19 |
4 |
Chelsea
|
10 | 8 | 18 |
5 |
Arsenal
|
10 | 6 | 18 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
10 | 2 | 18 |
7 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
10 | 11 | 16 |
8 |
Brighton
|
10 | 3 | 16 |
9 |
Fulham
|
10 | 1 | 15 |
10 |
Bournemouth
|
10 | 1 | 15 |
11 |
Newcastle United
|
10 | 0 | 15 |
12 |
Brentford
|
10 | -1 | 13 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
10 | -3 | 12 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
10 | -6 | 11 |
15 |
Leicester
|
10 | -4 | 10 |
16 |
Everton
|
10 | -7 | 9 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
10 | -5 | 7 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
10 | -11 | 5 |
19 |
Southampton
|
10 | -12 | 4 |
20 |
Wolves
|
10 | -13 | 3 |