Nottingham Forest 1-2 Newcastle United: Premier League – as it ...

17 Mar 2023

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That’s all from me. I’ll leave you with Sam Dalling’s report from the City Ground – goodnight.

Here’s the winning goal

This is what it means at the top of the Premier League. Newcastle’s next game is a humdinger: Manchester United at home.

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Arsenal 27 37 66 2 Man City 27 42 61 3 Man Utd 26 6 50 4 Tottenham Hotspur 27 12 48 5 Newcastle 26 20 47
Full time: Nottm Forest 1-2 Newcastle

Newcastle’s season is back on track. After two months without a Premier League victory, they have won twice in six days. The brilliant Alexander Isak scored both goals after Emmanuel Dennis had put Forest ahead with a delicious chip. The first half was pretty even; the second was all Newcastle.

Dan Burn, Fabian Schaer and Nick Pope of celebrate Newcastle United’s victory together after the final whistle.
Dan Burn, Fabian Schaer and Nick Pope of celebrate Newcastle United’s victory after the final whistle. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

90+5 min Renan Lodi is booked for pulling back Isak. “He is very, very sharp,” says Jamie Carragher on commentary, with a mixture of admiration and relief that he didn’t have to play against somebody as dynamic as Isak.

Isak waits for Navas to move and sidefoots a nonchalant penalty into the net. It’s his second goal of the game, his third of the week; he has been magnificent.

Alexander Isak (left) slots the ball home from the penalty spot for his, and Newcastle United’s, second goal.
Alexander Isak (left) slots the ball home from the penalty spot for his, and Newcastle United’s, second goal. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
Alexander Isak of Newcastle United (second right) celebrates with his teammates after scoring from the spot during stoppage time.
Isak (second right) celebrates with his teammates after scoring from the spot. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle United celebrates after Alexander Isak of Newcastle United scores the team’s second goal.
Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle United celebrates. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe celebrates after Alexander Isak scores their second goal.
As does Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters
Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier and Sean Longstaff check on a young Newcastle United fan after the celebration of Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak second goal.
Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier and Sean Longstaff check on a young Newcastle United fan after he was injured in the wild celebrations that followed their second goal. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/ReutersGOAL! Nottm Forest 1-2 Newcastle (Isak 90+3 pen)

Newcastle Football Club has a new hero.

Hang on, Isak is taking it – Trippier was the decoy man.

90+3 min Navas and Shelvey are booked for playing silly buggers.

Kieran Trippier will take the penalty…

PENALTY TO NEWCASTLE!

Isak’s header hits the raised arm of Niakhate, who puts his head in his hands even before Paul Tierney has pointed to the spot.

Nottingham Forest’s Moussa Niakhate handles the ball and a penalty is awarded to Newcastle United.
The ball clanks against the raised arm of Nottingham Forest’s Moussa Niakhate. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/Reuters
Nottingham Forest's Moussa Niakhate reacts after he handles the ball and a penalty is awarded to Newcastle United.
Niakhate knows what’s coming. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/Reuters

90 min Six minutes of added time.

89 min Aurier marches forward and plays in Gibbs-White, whose cross is taken away from Surridge by the stretching Pope. That was a vital touch.

87 min: Chances at both ends! Felipe makes a terrific block to deny Guimaraes after some excellent play from Newcastle on the right. Forest break in trademark style, and Johnson’s crisp low shot is kicked away well by Pope.

86 min Isak has had such a good game. The last six days feel like an important breakthrough in his Newcastle career.

84 min: Newcastle substitution Matt Ritchie replaces Jacob Murphy.

84 min: Chance for Newcastle! Longstaff stumbles into the area and finds Isak, whose left-footed shot on the stretch is blocked in the six-yard box by Aurier! I’m not sure Navas would have saved that.

82 min “I’m a Newcastle fan but also a supporter of VAR,” says John Davis. “The issue there was that a Forest defender deliberately cleared the ball which went towards Longstaff. Another Forest defender then deliberately played the ball off Longstaff (who didn’t attempt to play the ball?).

“Given some of the attempts to cut out through balls which deflect and then have resulted in players making through runs then being ruled onside again, that one feels really inconsistent. Compared to the Mo Salah goal a month or so ago, that was in a different dimension. I don’t like to criticise refs, I think VAR has brought more ‘correct’ decisions but that just felt wrong under current guidance.”

80 min: Chance for Murphy! Trippier’s angled cross is headed back across goal by Anderson. A couple of Forest players leave it to each other, and Murphy hooks the bouncing ball wide from 12 yards with his left foot. Decent chance, that.

Newcastle United's Jacob Murphy (right) shoots wide.
Newcastle United's Jacob Murphy (right) shoots wide. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

80 min “That decision is a perfect example of why VAR should be abolished,” says Rupert Downing. “No one other than the VAR referee understands it, which makes it ridiculous for everyone else. This is no longer a real sport. Bring on the robots.”

79 min: Double substitution for Forest Sam Surridge and Neco Williams replace Andre Ayew, who played pretty well, and the goalscorer Emmanuel Dennis. Williams is playing left wing.

76 min “I am a biased Forest fan but the offside Newcastle player prevented the defender simply putting it out for a corner or throw,” says Phil Hull. “Had to turn it back into box due to offside player.”

Doesn’t it count as a different phase of play once the cross is blocked? I’ll be honest, I haven’t a clue any more.

75 min Forest have had a couple of promising attacks in the last two or three minutes. I don’t think this will finish 1-1.

73 min “Fair point on Big Sam,” says Tom Stratford. “One particular bit of the early period Allardyce I miss is how he’d start games on the headset in the stands and then you knew it was business time when Sam chose to descend to the Reebok touchline. And if it makes you feel any better I actually found myself feeling slightly sorry for Eden Hazard earlier, so am clearly also going soft on the banter front with age!”

Empathy gets us all in the end. That and old age.

72 min Isak, who has been electric, combines beautifully with Guimaraes before Felipe makes an important challenge in the area. Then Anderson hammers a ball across the six-yard box that is cleared by Renan Lodi.

Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes (centre right) runs into Nottingham Forest's Felipe (centre left).
Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes (centre right) is thwarted by Nottingham Forest's Felipe (centre left). Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

71 min Anyway, the shot must go on, and Newcastle are still pushing for a winner. They’ll be fuming if they lose this, for all kinds of reasons.

69 min Longstaff was in an offside position on the right of the area when somebody else, Isak I think, slid the ball across goal. It was blocked, and then another Forest defender booted the ball off Longstaff. It ricocheted to Isak, whose cross was headed in by Anderson.

NO GOAL! Nottm Forest 1-1 Newcastle

VAR: killing dreams since 2018. The greatest moment of Elliot Anderson’s young life is overturned by some fella in an airless bunker. It’s a correct if pedantic decision, I think, but I keep coming back to the question Kenny Cunningham asked so succinctly on the Off the Ball podcast: has VAR improved football as a spectacle?

Newastle fans wait for the result of a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) review that disallows their second goal.
Newastle fans wait for the VAR to make up their mind. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

Paul Tierney is going to the monitor. The issue is whether Longstaff, who was in an offside position at one stage, was interfering or whether it counts as a different phase of play. I think this will be disallowed.

Fans watch replays on the big screen as Newcastle United's Elliot Anderson scores a disallowed goal after a VAR review.
Fans watch replays of the build up to Elliot Anderson sticking the ball in the net. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters

Anderson has been brilliant since coming on, full of purpose and intent, and now he has put Newcastle ahead. An attack broke down on the right of the area, but Isak collected the loose ball and teased a left-footed cross beyond the far post. Anderson got above Aurier and forced a superb header back across Navas.

Hang on, it’s being checked by VAR.

Newcastle Uniteds Elliot Anderson heads the ball into the net only for his effort to be disallowed for offside.
Newcastle Uniteds Elliot Anderson rises highest … Photograph: Andrew Kearns/CameraSport/Getty Images
Elliot Anderson of Newcastle United scores a goal to make it 1-1 before it was disallowed by VAR for offside.
And heads the ball into the net. Photograph: Matt West/ShutterstockGOAL! Nottm Forest 1-2 Newcastle (Anderson 64)

Too late: Elliot Anderson, 20, has put Newcastle ahead with his first senior goal!

63 min Newcastle have been much the better team since half-time, and Steve Cooper must be considering a switch to the usual 4-3-2-1.

62 min “Considering how both these teams were performing at the start of the season, that 1-1 is a fair scoreline at halftime is a testament to Steve Cooper’s incredible skill as a manager,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Meanwhile, Newcastle are a bit less taut than they were before the World Cup, but the funds to purchase a player of Isak’s quality will paper over most cracks.”

I’ve been impressed with Newcastle tonight, particularly their passing in tight areas around the edge of the Forest area. Whatever happens between now and the end of May, Eddie Howe has done such a good job with what is still, at this stage, no more than an upper mid-table squad.

61 min Willock cuts inside from the right and pokes a pass into Guimaraes on the edge of the area. He slashes a rising drive that is pushed over by the leaping Navas, another dramatic but relatively comfortable save. The resulting corner is cleared to the edge of the area, where Anderson shoots over. He’s been really lively since coming on.

Newcastle's Elliot Anderson reacts after shooting over.
Newcastle's Elliot Anderson rues his miss. Photograph: Rui Vieira/AP

60 min Murphy slides a nice ball towards Anderson, who is through on goal… and then slips over. Dumb luck for Newcastle.

59 min Gibbs-White is booked for a cynical pull on Bruno Guimaraes.

59 min: Just wide from Shelvey! Gibbs-White’s corner is headed away to the edge of the area. Shelvey cracks an impatient volley that hits Isak and loops back to Shelvey, who controls the ball on the chest and drags a shot not far wide. Pope had it covered though.

58 min: Forest substitution Ryan Yates is going off with a shoulder problem. Remo Freuler replaces him.

57 min A lovely deft touch from Ayew releases Dennis, who takes a poor touch but still manages to win a corner.

57 min “Happy St. Patrick’s Day one and all!” says Nora Mulcahy, a sentiment I’ll heartily second. Hic.

A Newcastle fan joins in the St Patrick's Day celebrations.
A Newcastle fan joins in the St Patrick's Day celebrations. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

55 min A rare Forest counter-attack (in the second half) ends when Gibbs-White overhits a cross. He’s been quiet tonight.

54 min “So with the entire MotD team and now potentially also a 75-year Roy Hodgson going back to work, do we have to acknowledge Jeremy Hunt’s absolutely smashed the theme of this year’s budget?” says Tom Stratford. “Someone will be putting down their pint of wine and getting a plane back from Malaga at this rate…”

It always makes me a bit sad that Sam Allardyce – who was such a progressive manager at the start of his career, and overachieved at pretty much every club he managed – was sacrificed at the altar of banter. I’m going soft in my old age, I know. Fifteen years ago I was the Bishop of Bantersaurus, or whatever the eff.

52 min A minute or so before that Anderson volley, Felipe had a handful of his shirt in the area. Technically, I suppose that could have been a penalty to Newcastle.

51 min Newcastle are all over Forest like a cheap cliche. One corner leads to another, which eventually leads to Willock curling over from the left edge of the area.

49 min: Good save from Navas! Murphy, on the right, floats a nothing cross beyond the far post. The substitute Anderson meets it with a sweet, sidefooted volley that is pushed over dramatically by Navas. It was a comfortable enough save for a keeper of his class, but Anderson’s technique was outstanding.

46 min Peep peep! Newcastle begin the second half, having made a half-time change: Elliot Anderson for Allan Saint-Maximin.

Half time: Nottm Forest 1-1 Newcastle

Two outstanding goals, a fair scoreline, some fruity tackles: what’s not to love?

This is a brilliant finish from Isak, who is so damn hot right now. Schar and Saint-Maximin combined well on the right to release Willock, who lifted a cross towards the unmarked Isak at the far post. The ball was slightly behind Isak, who improvised beautifully. With both feet off the ground, he whirled his right foot around the ball to force a volley back across goal and into the net via the post.

Newcastle United's Alexander Isak scores their first goal.
Newcastle United's Alexander Isak wraps his right foot around the ball. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters
Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak scores his side’s equaliser.
All eyes are on the ball as Isak’s shot heads towards the goal. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak (14) is congratulated by his teammates after putting the visitors level with a fine finish.
Isak (14) is congratulated by his teammates after putting the visitors level with a fine finish. Photograph: Simon Davies/ProSports/ShutterstockGOAL! Nottm Forest 1-1 Newcastle (Isak 45+2)

Alexander Isak equalises on the stroke of half time!

45 min There will be three minutes of added time.

43 min A clash of heads between Ayew and Guimaraes leads to a break in play while they receive treatment. I think they’re fine.

41 min Felipe sprays a pass over the top to Ayew, who looks miles offside but is allowed to continue. Trippier gets back to make a robust challenge, just in case, and then the flag goes up. Replays show Ayew was offside, though not by much.

Nottingham Forest’s Andre Ayew goes down under a challenge from Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier before an offside flag stops play.
Nottingham Forest’s Andre Ayew goes down under a challenge from Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier before an offside flag stops play. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/Reuters

39 min “Have to say,” says Peter Turnbull, “Forest need a calming yellow card.”

I think Dennis was booked for his goal celebration, though I appreciate that’s not the point you’re making. Ayew and Shelvey should have been booked.

38 min Longstaff lifts a really clever pass into the area for Murphy, whose shot is blocked. Moments later, Longstaff belts over from distance.

35 min: Longstaff hits the bar! Murphy muscles Renan Lodi off the ball, just outside the area on the Newcastle right, and slides the ball back to the edge of the area. Longstaff collects and sidefoots a shot that hits Felipe, loops over Navas and hits the crossbar!

Newcastle United's English midfielder Sean Longstaff (left) watches as his shot hits the woodwork.
Newcastle United's English midfielder Sean Longstaff (left) watches as his shot hits the woodwork. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

34 min Shelvey flips a terrific pass into Yates, who can’t control it on the edge of the area. Had he done so, Forest might have been in again.

33 min Dan Burn is booked for dissent. Misplaced dissent at that, because replays show the decision he complained about was correct.

32 min “I cannot let your comment about Roy Hodgson pass unchallenged,” says Richard Hirst. “He will always have an honoured place in the Fulham pantheon (no sniggering from the cheap seats) - a legend, and a gentleman.”

He was great at Fulham, no doubt, but the thought of him replacing Vieira is just weird.

30 min Shelvey gets a final warning for a scissor tackle on Guimaraes. He did get the ball but that’s not particularly relevant with a challenge like that, and like Ayew earlier he should have been booked. Forest have been very physical in the first half hour.

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