A point gained or two points lost? Scott Robson picks over events at the London Stadium to identify the lessons learned.
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1- Alexander Isak is worth every penny
Games like on Sunday are where you get what you pay for. Newcastle were struggling to force any sort of sting after buzzing around West Ham’s final third for most of the game then, within minutes, Isak had turned the game around with two brilliant finishes before almost getting a third and almost creating another for Dan Burn with a golf chip of a cross which was utterly sublime.
His goals today mean he’s only the third Swede to score in three Premier league games in a row after two quiet unassuming lads before him in Ibrahimovic and Ljungberg, and the way he’s playing at the minute you can only see injury stopping this goal scoring streak.
A lot has been written over the last few days about our unsung heroes producing the goods against PSG, but sometimes you just need that superstar to turn the game when you’really need it.
’63m is not only thoroughly worth every penny but, in these inflated times, it’s already looking like a bargain.
2- If you can’t win, make sure you don’t lose
Ok, we were minutes away from it being one of the greatest weeks in our history, but this isn’t the worst result.
Apart from a dynamic fifteen-minute spell in the second half, we were not at our very best and, after the Paris St Germain ultimate high, this isn’t a bad score whatsoever.
It’s been a gruelling spell since the last international break (when we were written off, let’s not forget) but it’s been a sensational spell for us which has given our season the sort of blast off you only normally see in Cape Canaveral.
Many teams will fall into the West Ham trap at this ground, and it’s no shock that only the freakish Manchester City have won at the running track so far. Expect a few cocksure sides to get brought down to earth there in the coming months.
Eddie Howe spoke beforehand of having the mental strength to get a result after a huge Champions League night, and despite that result only being a draw, I think we showed we have that mental strength in abundance.
3- Sandro Tonali is dividing opinion
Sandro Tonali, discuss’
Even in my group of friends, our Italian maestro is dividing opinion and the West Ham game wont change that.
The people who think he should do more are pointing to the lack of challenge for Kudus’ excellent goal and the silly pass which probably should have seen a first half red card for Bruno Guimaraes.
The others swooned over his positional play and his reading of the game and, in my book in the second half after a tiny positional tweak, he was excellent.
He said last month that he had a difficult start and it wasn’t easy, but every team in this league represents a different challenge that he won’t have got with the rossoneri.
A learning curve even for someone who is evidently extremely talented.
4 ‘ We can still welcome back our old friend
It’s sort of comforting to know that amongst all these whippings of Paris St Germain, 8-0 wins, and our new found nouveau riche status, Newcastle still can be Newcastle and concede the sort of goal we did after eight minutes on Sunday.
Lascelles loses his man and his entry for man of the year and Pope steams out of his goal and is made to look an arse. Horrible and it was as if time stood still to make it look even worse.
You can bet your life Eddie Howe wasn’t amused.
297 minutes of not conceding and we let that one in?
5 – Kudus to him
That Mohammed Kudus was a bit lively wasn’t he?
David Moyes had been drip feeding into West Ham’s team but his entrance as a substitute was exactly what we did not want.
We were mentally and physically running on fumes at that point and on comes the fast kid who scored 18 and assisted seven in 42 games last year.
West Ham may have a talent on their hands but we did say that about Maxwell Cornet, right enough.
Scott Robson
Some people are being hard on Tonali. He’s learning every game. He intelligent and he puts the work in. Learning Eddie’s ways takes time.
Did we also learn that Bruno is good at getting away with things? Phew, I thought we were going to be down to 10 at one point. No wonder Liverpool were after him.
I was quite near the front and didn’t really see those mistakes(?) of Tonali you mentioned, so I was quite surprised when I finally got away from the ground and discovered people on Twitter were giving him a hard time
I thought he was excellent in the second half and was completely in control of the midfield for most of it.
Funny how you see the game differently in the ground to what people see in TV close ups, isn’t it?