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Laurence Taylor (@laurence_1999)

When we took the lead but completely collapsed

Updated: Jun 8, 2022


When we took the lead at Old Trafford on Saturday before losing 4-1, it made me think about we did similar in away game against Man City, Benfica etc in the past. So here's some games where we took the lead but the opposition got angry and responded in devastating fashion or when we just collapsed.

Sporting Lisbon 4-1 Newcastle (4-2 agg) - 14/04/2005

Probably our worst ever night in Europe and luckily for me, I was only a toddler during this terrible season. The main reason is probably the fact that we went into the second leg of our UEFA Cup quarter-final against the Lisbon outfit 1-0 up from the first leg on Tyneside thanks to an Alan Shearer's header and when Kieron Dyer gave us the lead in the return game in Portugal, José Peseiro's needed three goals to go through but they managed to get four to knock us out. This was part of an awful end to the season, which also saw us lose five our final nine league games and finish fourteenth (our worst top flight finish since relegation in 1989) as well as once again, getting beat 4-1 to exit a cup competition at a late stage when Man Utd beat us the FA Cup semi-final three days after our collapse in Lisbon.


Aston Villa 4-1 Newcastle - 09/02/2008

We were without a win in eight league games coming into this game whilst Aston Villa were four points off the top four but Michael Owen gave us a surprise lead in the fourth minute and despite our defence looking shaky, we led 1-0 at the break. But after Wilfried Bouma's strike was deflected in off future Villa defender Habib Beye (what is it about deflected goals when we play at Villa Park?), John Carew became the first (and so far only) Norwegian to score a Premier League hat-trick. We had to wait until 22 March to finally win a game in Kevin Keegan's second spell as manager (which was against the same team that our last win under Sam Allardyce was against).


Fulham 5-2 Newcastle - 21/01/2012

We might have finished in a superb fifth during the 2011/12 season but it could've been higher if the African Nations Cup hadn't taken place during the campaign and we missed Cheick Tiote's tough tackling whilst he was playing in the tournament for the Ivory Coast (we also lost 1-0 at Brighton in the FA Cup and 5-0 at Tottenham in the league whilst he was away and our wins came against sides who finished in the bottom five that season). Top scorer Demba Ba and new signing Papiss Cisse were also playing in the AFCON (but with Senegal) meaning we played Leon Best and Shola Ameobi (who scored a combined six league goals that season) up top. But we deservedly took the lead thanks to a Danny Guthrie screamer just before half-time, but once Danny Murphy buried a penalty seven minutes after the restart, we collapsed and Clint Dempsey became the first American to bag a Premier League hat-trick whilst Bobby Zamora also got in on the act. Hatem Ben Arfa scored a fantastic consolation for us towards the end.


Benfica 3-1 Newcastle - 04/04/2013

This was very similar to our previous European quarter-final - scoring the first goal of the tie but losing 4-2 on aggregate to Lisbon opposition. The first leg in Lisbon saw us take the lead when Papiss Cisse buried Moussa Sissoko's cross and then the Senegalese striker lobbed Artur but hit the post. After Rodrigo equalised before half-time, Cisse again lobbed Artur but again he hit the post and Jorge Jesus' side took the lead when Rodrigo Lima took advantage of a bad backpass from Davide Santon, rounded Tim Krul and slotted the ball home. Oscar Cardozo scored a retaken penalty to make it 3-1.

QPR 2-1 Newcastle - 16/05/2015

This wasn't a hammering like some of the games in this article but considering we were in a relegation dogfight and QPR were already relegated and we did well in the first half but were an utter shambles in the second half, I chose to include this game. We deservedly led at half-time thanks to what will most likely be Emmanuel Riviere's only ever Premier League goal (the fact he managed to score in this game made this loss more criminal) but after Matt Phillips headed the hosts level, Leroy Fer's stunning strike proved to be the winner as we only created one good chance to equalise as substitute Papiss Cisse saw his shot cleared off the line by Clint Hill after Chris Ramsey's outfit failed to clear a cross. To make things more annoying, John Carver claimed he couldn't fault the lads' effort and blamed the heat for our loss. Luckily, Jonas Gutierrez put in an amazing display against West Ham in his final game for us on the final day of the season and a 2-0 win was enough for us to not only stay up but leapfrog Aston Villa and Sunderland in the process.


Man City 6-1 Newcastle - 03/10/2015

This was a game of two halves and Aleksandar Mitrovic's first Magpies goal gave us a surprise lead and the Serb had a goal disallowed before Sergio Aguero's equaliser put Manuel Pellegrini's side level at half-time. Within ten minutes of the restart it was 4-1 and Aguero had completed a hat-trick whilst Kevin De Bruyne scored a worldie, Aguero added a further two goals to become the fifth player to net five goals in a Premier League game.


Crystal Palace 5-1 Newcastle - 28/11/2015

Another truly dismal game from our awful 2015-16 season, I remember being annoyed when Steve McClaren picked Papiss Cisse over Aleksandar Mitrovic but I was then shocked to see him open the scoring but within seven minutes we were 2-1 down thanks to goals from James McArthur and Yannick Bolasie. After Wilfried Zaha volleyed the hosts 3-1 up before half-time, McClaren decided to bring off Ayoze Perez for Jamaal Lascelles and gave up hope of getting anything, in fact we were 4-1 down soon afterwards as Bolasie bagged his second. McArthur made it 5-1 in stoppage time as former manager Alan Pardew humiliated us with Fabricio Coloccini having a nightmare game. Surprisingly, the lads turned up the following weekend and beat Liverpool 2-0.


Man Utd 4-1 Newcastle - 18/11/2017

Dwight Gayle gave us a surprise lead at Old Trafford but headers from Anthony Martial and Chris Smalling were sucker punches that left us 2-1 down at the break. The return of Paul Pogba from injury really helping Jose Mourinho's side and he got his name on the scoresheet early in the second before Romelu Lukaku inevitably made it 4-1 later on.



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