The Week For Newcastle United 6
- mattlewis89
- Sep 25
- 5 min read
My Main focus this week will be Newcastle United women. It has been a tough week on the pitch for the lasses with 2 defeats in 4 days against Birmingham and Nottingham Forest in the league cup.
As I said last week the match was going to be a key measuring stick for season expectations. We were comfortably beaten 4-2 and I am even more convinced that Birmingham will be at minimum in those two automatic places come the end of the season.
When the line up came out, I did raise an eyebrow. There were several changes including Liefting coming into the side for Claudia Moan. Femke Liefting went on to play against Forest in the cup as well, so it remains to be seen this Sunday if that’s a permanent change but at the time I thought it was a strange time to make that change with a cup game coming up.
As there is with a lot of the WSL2 sides there was a high turnover of players in the summer, and I think that Becky is still trying to get the balance of the squad and players right in her starting line ups. That isn’t a criticism, more of a recognition of the difficult job she has, especially with the big names and internationals that were signed in the summer. Becky is an outstanding manager who has led the team through this journey in a class way and if you look at her press conferences when shared by the club or by NFTV, she shows honesty and ambition with everything that she does. I have full faith and confidence that Becky Langley will the manager that leads this club into the WSL.
After being 3-0 down at half time the lasses kept going (As they always do) and we won the 2nd half, which when your convincingly behind at half time is a massive positive for me because shows the desire and drive from the squad and manager to fight for every minute playing for the badge.
We then went on to Wednesday’s League cup fixture where we were beaten 2-1 in a reverse of our League match with Nottingham Forest. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t available to watch so I don’t have a lot of insight for the match itself but positives for me on the pitch, are Gosia and Fox getting their 1st starts in the black and white, and Beth Lumsden adding to her goal against Birmingham on Sunday.
The other massive positive for me is seeing the images of the fans who were able to make it to Mansfield for the game. The venue was changed at short notice; it is a competition that is very low on the priorities for the season for fans and club alike and the competition and it's format doesn't create much intrigue. However the group of them that went have all my respect and represented the best of the NUW community and what it is about and supported the lasses magnificently as they always do. Their lunchtime suggestions with the signs were particularly entertaining and quite accurate in my opinion.
Following the Birmingham match there was an unfortunate aftermath amongst the NUW Fanbase.
My take is very simple.
Opinions about tactics, line ups, match performances etc are part of what being a football fan is about, but the moment that turns into personal comments and attacks it stops being about football and becomes unnecessary and damaging whether that to be players, management, or fans it shouldn’t happen and the long term outcome of this would be a divide between the fanbase and a distance between the team and the fans both of which we need UNITED as we move towards the WSL.
I understand that increased visibility and focus bring in new types of fans. People who started supporting the lasses tomorrow but expect success yesterday, People who are there to support certain players, people who are there because we are playing a certain club or people who are early in their supporting of women’s football and still learning and understanding the dynamic of it on and off the pitch.
Of course there will be differences within a fan base. To use a wrestling term there can be different “factions” of supporters that naturally feel comfortable around each other at the games or online, but the most important thing is that we support the lasses evermore and be a driving force of support on and off the pitch.
HOWAY THE LASSES.
Another clean sheet to start and GOALS!!! In the Cup.
Memories of Titus Bramble and Boumsong are never to far from my thinking when it comes to defences so to see a Newcastle side that defends well is something that I never take for granted.
A third 0-0 of the campaign away from home and 4th clean sheet in 5 I will always look at in a positive manor, but it was up front where we struggled again by most accounts. I didn’t watch the match live because of being at the lasses’ game but the line up was quite surprising with a lot of changes to our previous match with Wolves. After seeing the line up against Bradford which I will come onto shortly I think it was done to try and build momentum during the week ready for a massive match with Arsenal on Sunday. We don’t have a great record against Bournemouth so happy with the point, but hope we start to pick up wins soon.
We then got the result that was expected against Bradford but just as important a performance to go with it as well. Lewis Miley was excellent in midfield and showed his value to our squad, Gordon was quality on the left as we hoped we would be and Osula took his chance in the starting line up well bagging two goals in the process. We cannot get too excited because it was a league one side, but it was the kind of performance we needed to show we can score goals and to highlight the best of Gordon.
Arsenal are an excellent side regardless of how easy many find to criticise them, but we have a good record against them recently especially at home and this Sunday could potentially be an expectation managing moment for the season.
The Under 21s Still Struggling
The Under 21s are still struggling after suffering another defeat this past Monday in a 3-2 defeat to Norwich. On the Face of it the stats say that we looked the better side, and Norwich won 3 goals out of 3 shots on target, but stats don’t always tell the full story. I do wish I was able to watch more of the u21 games to have more of an insight into how certain players are developing so appreciate when certain competitions are on YT, and main Tv and when NFTV are able to get to the u21 games as well for reaction and analysis.
The lasses u21s were beaten again in their first season in the PGA Academy.
The Week Ahead
Another big week ahead with the return of the Champions League and only 2 League games between now and the next international break.
HOWAY THE LADS AND LASSES
Fixtures
1st Team
Sunday 28th September Newcastle Vs Arsenal Premier League
Wednesday 1st October Union SG Vs Newcastle Champions League
Women’s Team
Sunday 28th September Newcastle United Women Vs Charlton Athletic Women.
Academy
Friday 26th September Reading U21s Vs Newcastle United Under 21s Premier League 2
Saturday 27th September Newcastle United U18s Vs Stoke City u18s Premier League U18s
Wednesday 1st October Union SG under 19s Vs Newcastle United Under 19s UFEA Youth League
Wednesday 1st October Newcastle United Women U21s vs Sheffield United Women U21s
Tables
Champions League and UFEA Youth League Table will be included from next week.
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