The Week for Newcastle United 14
- mattlewis89
- 38 minutes ago
- 8 min read
A pre-Christmas Horror show on Derby day elevates questions about the first team, The Lasses make it 2/2 under Tanya Oxtoby, The Under 18s bounce back from their 2nd Vs 3rd defeat with 2 wins, the lasses under 21s are up an running following their league split, and the under 21s crash out of the national League cup this evening.
There was nothing in the world that would have ruined my good mood and positive mindset (In my personal life) last week, but our club certainly gave it a good go. I always try to cling onto a bit of positivity with how I support my team. Of course I get frustrated, disappointed, even confused at time but I very rarely allow myself to get angry about it, but I was
Now despite my confidence when Joe asked me for a prediction the Monday prior to the game, I was under no illusions about the threat that Sunderland posed. They have started the season well and have quickly shut down any thought of relegation with how they have picked up points on a consistent basis without being spectacular. But in my mind whether blinkered loyalty or common sense knew we had better players and if we turned up and played close to how I know we can, especially in the big games we would walk out victorious.
Unfortunately, we didn’t show up and as much as it pains me to say this Sunderland wanted it more and it showed across the pitch. The game wasn’t a memorable on from an entertainment point of view, and in those types of fixtures you are reliant on a strong mentality, and we lacked any sort of fire on Sunday and that is unacceptable. The goal was a freak own goal and I hope that Woltemade can use the ridicule and micky taking to fire him up and bounce back with a flurry of goals because we still have 4 more fixtures over the next 15 days and nothing short of a Cup Semi Final and at least a couple of league wins will act as the first set of stitches and repairing the wounds of Sunday.
This may be the most pressure that Eddie Howe has been under since joining the club because there are a lot of questions and the negativity following the derby will be hard to shake. I will always back Eddie Howe but the question “Has he taken us as far as he can?” is a valid one and the longer our inconsistences continue and the further we drift from the Champions League positions the louder that Question will be asked. This season, especially away from home there has been a predictability with our tactics and despite us improving our squad depth on paper we have become one dimensional with how we set up. Elanga is struggling and is looking like the first massive mistake since the transfer window with our signings, Gordon was poor again, Ramsey can’t get a look in, which some of that is credit to Lewis Miley but where as Elanga has had plenty of opportunities and not taking them, Ramsey hasn’t been given a chance.
This is a massive period for us now as we head into January. Fulham at home tomorrow is a must win. Losing to Sunderland hurts, and it will hurt right up until we play them again but if we follow that by losing are League cup, I fear for Eddie Howe then. He has a lot of credit in the bank because he has been phenomenal, but that combination of results could be extremely damaging. I don’t think it will come to that, and I believe we will be in the hat for the semifinals.
We then follow that game with two fixtures who even the shrewdest of gamblers can struggle to predict in Chelsea and Man Utd. The Domino effect and momentum will be key for these two games. The Atmosphere could be challenging if we do go out to Fulham and play poorly again against Chelsea. Our Last game of 2025 sees us go to Burnley away. I’m sure many will have this as a guaranteed win but with our away form what it is and the potential negativity of a poor Christmas run could a loss to Burnley be the final straw in the mind of many for Eddie Howe.
I’m going to believe it will go the other way. We have been here before following the Brentford game last season we went on a monster run in the league that was key to our Champions League Qualification and of course we are the defending League Cup Champions that is still less than 12 months ago. Chelsea and Man Utd are both winnable games and if we get 4-6 points from them, that will give us momentum going into the Burnley game and a chance to add another away win for the new year.
The wounds of Sunday will sting for a while, and every meme, social media comment or reminder of confident predictions will only sting more but if we can use this to kick start our season properly not just for a handful of games and push on to defending our League Cup title and Qualifying for the Champions League again.
“They who laughs last, Laughs loudest”
It’s not May yet
Tanya Oxtoby era starts strongly.
The new era for Newcastle United Women has started with two wins and two clean sheets.
The first of those came at home to Southampton with Jordon Nobbs scoring on her birthday following an excellent ball in from Charlotte Wardlow.
We followed that up with a 4-0 win over Liverpool Feds with Shania Hayles scoring two with McQuade and Emily Murphy adding to the goals to dispatch the 3rd tier side.
The win over Liverpool Feds sets up a 4th round game against WSL side West Ham United which ticks a lot of boxes for me.
1. It’s a home tie which I hope will help attendance.
2. It is a winnable game and a chance to test ourselves against a lower-level WSL side that could potentially be our opponents in a play off in May.
3. The timing of the game is very important to me. It is sandwiched between the Birmingham and Charlton League fixtures, arguably the two title favourites so a chance to really stretch our squad depth, ability and adaptability as we navigate three extremely difficult and challenging fixtures that will pose different styles and tactical dilemmas both before and during the games.
Of course, we cannot afford to overlook Portsmouth who despite being in another relegation battle have a habit of picking up strange results including three wins out of 4 in November including a win over West Ham in the League cup and drawing with Charlton in December. It's a game I am looking forward to being at on Sunday. It was the one away day in the League I missed last season so happy to be able to get to the game and hopefully the lasses and Tanya Oxtoby can complete an impressive December with another win and 100% start going into those three mammoth fixtures in January.
In other Lasses news it has been a great couple of weeks for the under 21s as they started their new League campaign with 4 points and sit top of the PGA League Under 21s division 2. Following the conclusion of the PGA North and South leagues it looks like the league has been split into Division 1 and Division 2 and the Lasses U21s sit top of Division 2 after 2 games. Obviously we are in division 2 for a reason but we have started brightly and hopefully that continues.
The Under 18s lose their battle for 2nd but can be proud of their first half of the season
The Under 18s lost their grip on 2nd with a 3-0 defeat to Manchester United in the 2nd vs 3rd battle. I couldn’t bring myself to pay for MUTV and none of my Man Utd fan friends subscribe to the channel so I couldn’t tell you anything about the game other than the score but the 3-0 defeat seemed comprehensive. The goals came in 53rd, 60th and 79th for Man Utd.
However, Newcastle responded with a derby day win over Middlesbrough a week later. Alfie Seldon gave us the lead in the 1st half assisted by Matthew Taylor and the roles were reversed as the U18s went 2-0 just after half time. Before that goal Middlesbrough were also shown a red card so once we scored the second goal the result was virtually sealed despite their 93rd minute consolation goal.
The Progress from the U18s has been brilliant this season. They already sit on 25 points after 12 games and for context they finished on 35 points after 24 games.
The U18s have also won 5-2 in the 3rd Round of the FA Youth Cup this evening. Matheos Ferreira scored a hat trick and two goals from Michael mills gave us a mightily impressive win. The U18s will play Crystal Palace in the 4th Round in January.
The U21s exit the National league Cup
After a promising start to the competition the U21s have gone out of the national league cup following a 0-0 draw and penalty defeat to Halifax town. We were in a good position after beating Gateshead and Boston United but unfortunately couldn’t get the win we needed in the last two to get into the top two positions.
It was a game very few chances and I would say that Halifax slightly edged it overall. They could have had a penalty in the second half as James Taylor brought their forward down. If it wasn’t a penalty, then a yellow should have been given for the dive but in the end it was neither so strange decision for me.
On 88 Minutes we had a massive chance to seal a smash and grab when we hit the bar and the rebound bounced back only to be headed narrowly over the bar.
The Penalty shoot out provided far more entertainment than the game itself. Joe Brayson missed the 3rd spot kick, but James Taylor saved the 5th to take it into sudden death. We were never in a position to win the penalty shoot out and Cieran Thompson unfortunately missed our 9th spot kick and Halifax put theirs away to seal the win.
The Under 21s play Dinamo Zagreb 2 before finally returning to League action January against Middlesbrough.
Results 3rd December-16th December
Liverpool Women U21s 2 Vs Newcastle United Women 2 U21s (PGA League under 21 Division 2)
Manchester United U18s 3 Vs Newcastle United U18s 0(Premier League U18s)
Newcastle United Vs Burnley (Premier League)
Newcastle United Women 1 Vs Southampton Women 0 (WSL2)
Newcastle United Women Under 21s 2 Vs London City Lionesses U21s 1 (PGA League Under 21 Division 2)
Leverkusen U19s 2 Vs Newcastle United U19s 1 (UFEA Youth League)
Bayer Leverkusen 2 Vs Newcastle United 2 (Champions League)
Newcastle United U18s 2 Middlesbrough 1 (Premier League Under 18s)
Newcastle United Women 4 Liverpool Feds 0 (Women’s FA Cup)
Sunderland 1 Newcastle United 0 (Premier League)
Halifax Town 0 Newcastle United u21s 0 Halifax win 7-6 on Penalties (National League Cup
Newcastle United U18s 5 Portsmouth U18s 2 (FA Youth Cup)
Fixtures 17th December-21st December
Wednesday 17th December Sheffield United Women Under 21s Vs Newcastle United Women Under 21s (PGA League Under 21s Division 2)
Wednesday 17th December Newcastle United Vs Fulham (League Cup)
Saturday 20th December Newcastle Under 21s Vs Dinamo Zagreb 2 (Premier League international Cup)
Saturday 20th December Newcastle United Vs Chelsea (Premier League)
Sunday 21st December Portsmouth Women Vs Newcastle United Women (WSL2)
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