Expectations had risen in the Hunter Valley after Newcastle’s emphatic win against the Wellington Phoenix.
Their Round 5 encounter was a match up between themselves, the best attacking side, against the best defensive side, the Macarthur Bulls.
In the early minutes of the game, the Jets were on top. Disappointingly though, Dylan Murnane was injured in the 15th minute and had to be replaced by Kiwi Dane Ingham.
A decisive angled ball from Brazilian import Daniel Penha to the fleet-footed Valentino Yuel brought about the first talking point of the game. Macarthur goalkeeper Filip Kurto rushed from his box to clear the ball, but instead connected with Yuel’s ankle. Olivier Boumal completed the move, but no goal was awarded, as referee Alex King had already blown his whistle for the foul play.
King obviously saw this foul correctly as denying Yuel a goal-scoring opportunity and had no option but to send Kurto off. Had he played advantage, Newcastle would have had a goal but the red card could only be a yellow.
Kurto was replaced by Nick Suman, with Tommy Oar sacrificed to complete the substitution. Macarthur’s defensive structure got even tighter with a 4-4-1 and at times a 4-5-0 being employed.
The goal drought was finally broken in the 35th minute, as James Meredith clumsily fouled Beka Mikeltadze on the edge of the area.
Newcastle’s Georgian striker fired home the awarded free kick, despite Suman getting a glove to it.
The Jets went into the break as deserved leaders and at the start of the second half could have been two up, although Yuel’s run and quick cross was not quite accurate enough for the Cameroonian Boumal.
Could Boumal have been quicker? Could he have slid in to connect with the ball? Would Macarthur have recovered after a second goal?
In the end, the Bulls had the answers and took their chances, as Noone’s cross in the 47th minute was spectacularly volleyed home by Daniel De Silva. The Jets’ defence, but especially Ingham, were too slow to react.
In the 59th minute Newcastle had their best chance of the second stanza, with Penha again instrumental with a through ball for Ingham whose cut back was struck by Boumal. Suman spread himself and blocked the shot well.
In the 84th minute Sam Silvera, a 66th minute substitute for Boumal, sloppily gave away a free kick in Newcastle’s defensive third. De Silva’s swinging free kick was strongly headed home by Meredith.
It was 2-1 to the ten-man Bulls. A great result.
Does Newcastle have Count Dracula Syndrome? They just don’t like crosses. Is it inexperience or a lack of defensive organisation?
On the Bulls’ goal-scoring free kick, Mohammed Al-Taay was marking James Meredith – not a good match up, size-wise – while 19-year-old Riley Warland, playing as a centre back, and centre forward Mikeltadze were both in the Newcastle wall. Surely a taller player picking up Meredith was a better option? Elsey and Thurgate were badly missed (damned COVID!), seeing Newcastle’s depth tested and found wanting.
Take nothing away, though, from a well-organised Macarthur, who did everything possible to win. They defended stoically, took their chances and even spread their fouls among players and throughout the game. A professional performance.
Arthur Papas’ after-match press talk was again insightful, as he took responsibility for the result, adding later though that, “We lost, not because of the disruptions, we lost because we didn’t concentrate enough, we weren’t ruthless enough to finish the game at 1-0.”
A week can be a long time in football. A great performance, scoreline and result last week, while this week saw defensive frailty and plenty of ifs, buts and maybes.
Boxing Day and a home game for Newcastle against a Wanderers team, and definitely a manager in Carl Robinson, very much under pressure.
Simon Kelly
Roar Pro
Siatrannis is back from injury. Yes Mikeltadze does drop deep and sometimes is not in position. He did have shots that were on target but were blocked. He will get plenty of goals and could well challenge for the golden boot. A little too early to judge the Spaniard Arques. Expect to see much more of him though. We missed Thurgate big time and he won't be available for the WSW game. Archie Goodwin did have a slight injury late in pre-season and there was talk of "protecting him". Lucas Marquaris should be back in the game day squad this week. Yuel, Boumal and Kosta Petratos were all spotted this morning doing extras at a local suburban ground.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The big difference between this and the previous game is how many players they had in the box in the previous game and how few and how late they were arriving in this one. Wellington were giving Newcastle heaps of time to get into the box by not making challenges and one extra ball with more players coming into the box to walk it into the net worked then. The big chance you could say where they tried to walk into the net, Yuel could have had a shot on the goal from an angle but tried to setup Boumal for the tap in at the far post , Boumal was arriving a bit late it would have been an easy goal if Boumal had been closer, the ball itself cannot see how it could have been played any slower to avoid the defenders. Ironically the send off the other thing you could say about that is Boumal was arriving late and Yuel had to go it himself. What about Mikeltadze, the striker was not in the picture on both occasions. He has scored some goals but in this match he was MIA from being in the box. He mysteriously drops back to mark no one as well. one reason Macarthur scored their goal was Mikeltadze was in no mans land dropped back so far, marking no one and wan;t there to press so Macarthur could keep possesion and set up the cross.
Jambo
Guest
Agree. Newcastle would have been much better served by the referee letting the goal stand and the keeper only getting a yellow. They just couldn't break down Macauther 4-5-0
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The question has to be asked where are the young attacking players. Papas has brought in a lot of players and he showed in the first match that he favours the players he brought in. He started Grozos and Siatrianis in that first match. Penha and Boumal are top shelf. Mikeltadze is good with his back to the goal, however once there was a lack of other players around him all he does is goes backwards and deeper. Murnane was a big factor in their win in Newcastle getting into the box from fullback. Siatrianis I dont see how he is a wide player, maybe he could be tried central. Grozos too error prone, and lacks defensively. Not a box to box player like Thurgate and ODoherty either. Taking off Boumal, Yuel and Doherty they lacked players going forward. Al-Taay very deep lying midfielder. Then to top it off Marques to replace Hoffman took a wide player going forward with another midfielder who tends to hang back. Marques doesn't looke promising to fit in with a high pressing energy style. Not bringing on Kosta Petratos was ridiculous, and where is Archie Goodwin. I dont know what the story is with Macarthur in the first match they looked ordinary with a different team, De Silva is showing heaps of desperation, while he was always busy in the past, he was never into the game as much he is at Macarthur, Craig Noone busted his gut defensively suprisingly , and instead of reserving the striker position for an old bloke they have Lachie Rose who works really hard. Meredith is a great back three player. The big back three is great if they hang back if they try to dominate possesion and play a high line then it becomes a vulnerability.
jbinnie
Guest
Arthur Papas would have learned a lot from this game ,the main thing to show his charges in the analysis sessions will be that a team cannot "walk the ball into the net". Everything fell into place with the forced replacement of the Bull's goalkeeper very early into the game and the Jets were faced with 10 men, one would imagine a dream for the resurgent minutes. However, as is usual in such games. confidence in excess took over and we were given a lesson in how not to win a game, with chance after chance created all to be wasted by extremely poor finishing. This is a malaise often suffered by young emerging players or teams and it is going to be a measure of Papas' performance if he can cure the fault quickly. We can but wait and see. Cheers jb.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
I wont ride them off, I think this loose will bring them back down to earth and more wins will come there way sooner then later.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Jets were simply awful in this game and nothing like the dynamic force we saw in the prior game. After 5 games the side a team is starts to be set, we are now 20% of the way through a woefully short season and there’s little time to correct issues from here on in. One thing that has improved in the AL is video analysis and Jets performance vs Nix will have been analysed to death by now - MacArthur neutralised much of Jets creativity which they will do to any side and look the early title favourites. Jets next three is crucial - WSW, City then WU: wins are needed.