MATCH REPORT: Tyne-Wear Derby

This Tyne-Wear derby felt like it had more riding on it than the ones in previous seasons. Sam Allardyce lead his new side into the derby yet to win a match and their opponents went into the match with a very convincing 6-2 win under their belt from their previous match. Both teams also sat in the bottom three going into this game, meaning that the winner of this would take an even bigger boost than they would normally. Not only would they get the derby win bragging rights, they would also lift themselves closer to the teams sitting nervously above the bottom two. It may only be early in the season, but both teams needed something magical to kick start their season for good. 

In the first half, it looked like the team that would go on to win it would be Newcastle. From the first whistle, the away side were pushing forward and trying to find the gaps in the Sunderland defence and had a very good chance early into the game. They won a free kick in a brilliant position and the delivery into the box was at the perfect height for Aleksander Mitrovic to flick on the ball to Fabricio Coloccini. The defender attempted an overhead kick from close range and forced Costel Pantilimon into a fine save to turn it away. 

Around the 15 minute mark, Newcastle saw a flurry of chances go to waste as the piled even more pressure on Sunderland. Mitrovic got his head to a cross and sent his shot just wide of the far post from the corner of the six-yard box. He then played a part in setting up a chance for Georginio Wijnaldum. The two played a one-two off each other, allowing Wijnaldum to gain some space to take on the low shot and forcing Pantilimon into another good save. Jack Colback had a good chance after some good Newcastle build-up play, and he fired his shot on target from just outside the box, but Mitrovic tried to get a touch to the ball and sent the shot wide of the far post instead. 

Colback had another chance to put his side ahead after Daryl Janmaat picked him out in the box and he made good contact with the ball, but a deflection from a Sunderland player saw the ball out of play. The corner that followed saw another shot sent marginally wide of the target from Mitrovic again and Ayoze Perez failed to make contact with a cross that came into the box minutes after Mitrovic's chance, so another chance went begging. The away supporters must have been starting to wonder whether they would come to rue all of these missed chances. Turns out, they would. 

As the half time whistle was approaching, Sunderland broke with the ball and it was a long ball forward to Steven Fletcher that caused all the problems. Coloccini was level with the Sunderland striker and looked like he would just beat him to the ball, but it appeared as though he shoulder barged Fletcher out of the way to prevent him from reaching the ball. The referee was instantly across to award the penalty and brandish his red card, deeming Coloccini to have been preventing a goal scoring opportunity and being the last defender. It was Adam Johnson who stepped up to the spot and he coolly slid the ball past the keeper and into the bottom right corner of the net - also making himself the joint top scorer for Sunderland in the derby. 

Johnson taking the penalty to score Sunderland's first goal
Image from: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sunderland-vs-newcastle-united-better-10342565

The faces of the Newcastle players and their manager looked extremely downcast as they walked into the tunnel at half time, with reason. They had been the dominant force in the game but hadn't managed to convert any of their chances, but being a man down for the second half didn't stop them from having a go at Sunderland. Mitrovic had an excellent opportunity 10 minutes into the half when the ball fell to his feet. He cut back to create some space from his defender, but his finishing shot was aimed straight down the centre of the goal at the keeper. Perez followed this up one minute later after making a charging run down the middle of the pitch and took on the shot when he reached the box, but again aimed his shot directly down the centre of the goal at Pantilimon. 

Sunderland did look more settled in the game as they reached their hour mark and were stretching the game when they pushed players forward. Jermain Lens put a beautiful inside ball through to Fletcher and he was allowed time on the ball to carve out a shot, which he tried to curl round the defender and into the top corner, but the shot was deflected and sent out of play for a corner. From the corner, Jermain Defoe controls the ball brilliantly to allow a clean shot at goal and Billy Jones gave it the touch that it needed to turn the ball over the line and past the crowd of defenders on the line. 

Sunderland players celebrate as Jones doubles their lead
Image from: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sunderland-vs-newcastle-united-better-10342565

Newcastle still didn't sit back though. Wijnaldum had a good chance to pull a goal back for the away side as he hit a powerful, low shot aiming towards the far bottom corner, but Pantilimon did extremely well to get down and palm the ball away from danger. They only had one other half-chance towards the end of the match which came from Florian Thauvin. Newcastle played in and around the Sunderland 18-yard box until Thauvin decided to hit the shot when it came to him, but the ball was well wide of the post. 

Johnson could easily have had a second goal in the game as well. He was a long way out, but he cut back inside onto his stronger left foot and powered his shot at goal and was only denied by the crossbar as Robert Elliot had been beaten by the shot. It wasn't over yet though as Sunderland still had one last attack left in them. The home side broke on the counter attack, carrying four of their players against two Newcastle defenders. The cross into the box from Younes Kaboul fell perfectly for Fletcher running into the box and he hit the shot first time on the volley with his left foot for a beautiful finish into the bottom corner to round off the game. 

Yann M'Vila celebrating the win with the home fans
Image from: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sunderland-vs-newcastle-united-better-10342565

This win for Sunderland means that their historic run of 8 consecutive wins in the derby continues and it should give them the confidence to climb up the table. Newcastle were very unlucky to not take the lead in the first half, or to score at all taking into account the number of attempts they had in the game, but it was Sunderland who were the most clinical in front of goal which allowed them to snatch the game away from their rivals. The red card at the end of the first half definitely affected the game and meant something was missing in the Newcastle performance second half. Either way, Steve McClaren needs to look at a way to get his side on a winning run before they get left behind as the competition in the Premier League heats up even more. 

Premier League Review: 11-15

Newcastle United - 15th (39 points) 

It's a season that Newcastle fans will be wanting to forget in a hurry. They suffered a horrendous start to the campaign after failing to win in August and September. Their first win came midway through October after they faced Leicester. This game marked the start of a brilliant turn around by Alan Pardew to set Newcastle on a 5 match winning streak.

Things got even better following this when the team became the first to inflict defeat on Chelsea in all competitions when they recorded a 2-1 victory at St James' Park, but then at the end of the month, Pardew saw himself facing the exit door. His tenure ended in a 3-2 win over Everton when he left to become the Crystal Palace boss. This was definitely a turning point in their season.

Fans had been calling for Pardew to get sacked for a long time, but they could never have anticipated just how bad things would get under the leadership of his successor, John Carver. Newcastle were in ninth upon Pardew's departure and Carver took a few matches to get in his stride and eventually got his first win against Hull, but struggled to get any consistency going. They embarked on a terrible run of 8 consecutive defeats from March onwards. This marked their worst run in the Premier League history and the worst by any club this season.

Possibly the lowest moment in their season was the 3-0 defeat to Leicester. Daryl Janmaat and Mike Williamson were both sent off, and the latter was accused of deliberately getting a red by Carver. They did scrape a point against West Brom but followed this up with defeat to QPR which left them in an extremely dangerous position going into the last weekend. 

The situation pushed Newcastle into playing possibly the best game of their season. They needed a win to stand a chance of staying up and did it in emphatic style. The game ended in a 2-0 win, which included a goal from recent cancer survivor Jonas Gutierrez on his final game for the club. The fans will be hoping this isn't going to become a regular position for them in the table and that they can go onto better things in the next campaign. 

Leicester City - 14th (41 points)

Arguably, Leicester's successful survival mission was the story of the season. Their first month in the Premier League would never have suggested that they would have been in trouble. They recorded two great draws against Everton and Arsenal and an extremely memorable 5-3 win against Manchester United at the King Power stadium. 

For them, the international break came at the wrong time. Following the United game, Nigel Pearson's side went on a dismal run of 13 games without a win which left them down at the bottom of the table with very little hope. They picked up their first win after this against Hull City and a lot of people thought they were finally getting what some of their previous performances had deserved. It looked as if the ship had steadied when they won four of their first six games after Christmas. This included a brilliant comeback against Spurs in an FA Cup tie, where it took two late strikes from Leonardo Ulloa and Jeffrey Schlupp to secure their progress to the next round. 

However, it was around this time that Pearson landed himself in the headlines for the wrong reasons. He got a lot of attention after footage of him grabbing James McArthur around the neck and reports emerged stating that he'd been sacked. These claims were quickly retracted though, but it still looked to have affected the team. Leicester failed to win their next 6 games which left them 7 points adrift of safety and to many people they looked like they would be the first team relegated.

Then the miracle happened. A late 2-1 win at him to West Ham ended a run of 8 games without a win, which they followed up with a 3-2 triumph over West Brom; sealed through an injury time winner. The manager found himself in the headlines again after losing his temper with a journalist following the Chelsea game, but this was soon forgotten. They recorded impressive victories over Newcastle and Southampton before rounding off the season with an astonishing 5-1 win over already relegated QPR. If the end of the season is anything to go by, next season will be promising for them.

West Bromwich Albion - 13th (44 points)

West Brom eventually finished the season with little problems and without being dragged into a relegation battle after Tony Pulis steadied the ship. 

At the end of the previous season after Pepe Mel left the club, Alan Irvine was his surprise replacement. He didn't have the greatest start with the team, and it took them a few weeks to pick up their first win of the season against Spurs, which they followed with a big victory over Burnley. Consistency was a problem for them though, and they only picked up another 2 wins between then and January. At this point, they were just one point above the drop, with a lot of terrible statistics trailing closely behind them.

With the turn of the New Year, came their turn of fortune. Pulis completely flipped around the club and took a very different approach to Irvine. He put in place a more defensive outlook which saw his team lose only 6 league games in the second half of the season.

He also led the team to some incredibly good wins against the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea towards the end of the season. He also brought the best out of Saido Berahino who hit double figures in his goal tally and helped his team claim some very important points.

The fans will be looking forward to next season now they've had a taste of what Pulis can do for their team. Even though their campaign finished in a 4-1 defeat to Arsenal, they'll have confidence to push on into the beginning of next season. 

West Ham United - 12th (47 points)

Sam Allardyce was one of the early picks to be the first manager sacked at the beginning of the season, but he went on to prove a lot of his critics wrong. In an attempt to appease the owners who wanted a more free-flowing style of football, he brought in Teddy Sheringham to help with the attacking side of things. 

West Ham had a particularly good start to the season. After losing their first game, they went on to pick up a lot of important points including beating Liverpool 3-1 and Manchester City 2-1 at home. 

Due to a lot of the teams that fans expect to see at the table not playing as well as previous seasons, West Ham took full advantage. On Christmas Day, West Ham were sitting in fourth place, and were looking extremely strong. 

However, Boxing Day was the big turning point in their season. They lost to both Chelsea and Arsenal before drawing with West Brom on New Year's Day. But this was just the beginning of their nose-dive in form. The players like Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia, Alex Song and Stewart Downing who had helped their team to this point all failed to replicate their stunning form from the first half of the season. 

Although they were collecting less points, their defensive record was still impressive. They conceded fewer goals than in the last two seasons, and their disciplinary record was so good that it earned them a place in the qualifiers of next season's Europa League. Neither of these things took away from the fact that performances were dwindling though. If the season had begun on Boxing Day, West Ham would have been sitting in 17th position come the final day. Their season finished in a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle and this proved to be the final nail in Allardyce's managerial coffin at West Ham as he lost his job at the end of the season. 

Everton - 11th (47 points)

Last season showed so much promise for the blue side of Liverpool, but in the end, it couldn't have ended worse for them. 

After finishing fifth and adding the talents of Romelu Lukaku to their squad, it looked like they would push onto even better things this season. However, they only won one of their first seven games, which seemed to set the tone for the rest of their season. Many of their fans expected them to be challenging for Champions League this term, so this kind of run was definitely unexpected. Things didn't look up for them in the league any time soon and one of their defeats was a heavy blow dealt by Chelsea which gave no one hope.

Even the darkest of moments include some good times though. For Everton, this was in the Europa League. They beat Wolfsburg both home and away and Lille at Goodison which helped them to secure the top spot in their group.

Even after these great performances, Everton still struggled domestically, especially over the festive period. They only put together to wins throughout December and January, but even then their European form continued to impress. On their return to Europe, they beat Young Boys 7-2 on aggregate to reach the last 16. The next leg of the competition looked good for them as they beat Dynamo Kiev at home 2-1, but the return leg was disastrous. The bright spark of their campaign came to an end through a 5-2 loss. 

Their exit from the Europa League allowed them to put all of their focus into the league. 4 wins from 5 matches, including a very good performance against Manchester United to win 3-0, soon took away the relegation worries of the fans and helped them to climb up to mid-table by the end of the season. Without the added pressure of the Europa League next season, Everton may mount more of a challenge if they can sort out their consistency problems. 

Premier League: Final Day

At the beginning of the season, whenever somebody reads down for the last matches of the season and sees a date like 'May 24th', it seems like it's a long time away. However, the season is one that goes quick, just like any other time period and it leaves fans and teams alike wondering where all the time went. It also marks the moment when teams can either celebrate or feel the weight of the world fall onto their shoulders. Just like any other last game, this is what it proved to be for so many people. 

Both Burnley and QPR had already been relegated prior to the final weekend, but both would want to go out with a good result that would give their moral a boost ahead of the awaiting Championship campaign. It seemed that since Burnley had been relegated, they felt a lot of pressure lift off them as their results improved, and the final day was another example of this. They faced Aston Villa away, and they faced a tough task as the home team looked completely different to the one they faced earlier in the season due to Tim Sherwood. It was their star man Danny Ings that created the headlines once again after his sixth minute goal gave Burnley the three points that ended their season on a high note. 

For QPR, the story couldn't have ended more tragically. The faced Leicester away from home and that would prove to be a big task as well. Everyone thought that Leicester would be the ones that would be panicking about the last result, but they somehow managed to claw themselves away from danger with relatively little struggle after laying at the bottom of the table for the majority of the season. Leicester certainly ended their season in style after turning 5 goals past Alex McCarthy in the QPR goal to heap the misery on the already relegated team. Charlie Austin did step up and give QPR a consolation goal though after Leicester's fourth, but that's all it proved to be in the end. 

The other two teams in danger of relegation going into the final match were Hull City and Newcastle. Hull needed a win to stand a chance of staying up and if this happened, Newcastle would need a win, but otherwise they would only need to match their result. Hull faced Manchester United at home and gave their all throughout the game. They did have the ball in the back of the net twice, but both were rightly ruled offside. They also looked like they had been handed a gift when Marouane Fellaini got sent off for a stomp on Paul McShane's leg not even 20 minutes after he was sent onto the pitch. The home team couldn't take advantage of this though, and the game ended as a draw, making them the third team to be relegated this season. 

Newcastle faced West Ham at home, which looked like it would be a tough fixture for them after the poor run of form that they have had in the latter end of the season. However, it was like a completely different team was sent onto the pitch on Sunday because Newcastle knew they needed a result to stay in the Premier League. Moussa Sissoko got them the first goal 10 minutes into the second half, but this was overshadowed by the second goal in so many ways. Jonas Gutierrez, who not so long ago didn't look like he would be playing football again for a while, stepped up and wrapped up the three points for Newcastle in what could potentially have been his last game for Newcastle. This was the result that confirmed Hull's relegation, as it took them out of reach. However, West Ham did receive some good news in the shape of Europa League qualifiers due to finishing top of the Fair Play league. 

Then, there was the shock result of the day. Steven Gerrard had already said his farewell to Anfield the previous week, but this was the game that marked his last as a Premier League player. They faced a Stoke team that a lot of fans would expect them to beat to give Gerrard a send off very different to his one at the Liverpool stadium. It just wasn't meant to be though. Stoke held nothing back as they hit Liverpool for 6, 5 of which came in the first half alone. Gerrard was the player that brought one back for Liverpool to reduce the deficit slightly. Peter Crouch then came onto the pitch and made sure that his old team didn't have the last say in the game, marking a devastating end for the Liverpool captain. 

Although everything at the top of the table had been decided, Chelsea rounded of their winning season in style. Although, Sunderland did take the lead and give the champions a scare, their top players were once again on hand to rack up the three points expected of them. Manchester City also cruised to a 2-0 over Southampton, which included a goal for Sergio Aguero who won the golden boot for the 14/15 season. Joe Hart was also among the awards as he kept his 14th clean sheet of the season to win his 4th golden glove. Arsenal and Theo Walcott in particular shone in a 4-1 over West Brom to allow the top three to show their strength one last time before they sign out for the summer. 

The Managerial Position

The role of the manager in the game of football nowadays is all about the result. If a manager isn't getting the results that the owners expect, than they can pretty much kiss their jobs goodbye, apart from in a few positive scenarios. However, in the modern game, the manager is focused on in the media for more than just the results that they can get their team to produce...

Jose Mourinho is one of the best known managers worldwide. He's had major success in some of the top leagues in the world and wins trophies at every single club he works at. A success story all round? Not exactly. It's not often that he doesn't have a complaint about the media or the referee or something that happened in the game, which doesn't just draw the attention of the media, but also that of the FA. He's been in bother with the FA quite a few times, but doesn't seem like he will ever hold back on what he truly feels about what happened in the game, or how he feels about something that has been said in the media. It could only be a matter of time before he says something that could give him a lot more to think about than just a fine. 

Another manager recently in trouble with the FA was Louis van Gaal. It's the first charge of conduct he's received in his managerial career and he wasn't exactly too happy with it. He is pretty much in agreement with Mourinho that he should have the right to say what he wants about the game that had been played. That isn't the only thing that has drawn attention to the Manchester United manager in recent weeks though. On Sunday in a post-match interview, Sam Allardyce said that United had turned into a 'long-ball team' which seemed to upset van Gaal as it wasn't his philosophy. This meant that when he turned up to his press conference and was asked questions about that statement, he brought out what looked like PowerPoint slides that showed his team were not a long-ball team and proved that they could pass their way towards the opponent area. Not exactly your typical press conference... 

Earlier today, Paul Lambert became the third manager to get sacked so far this season. Aston Villa lie 18th in the table, meaning they're in the relegation zone, which they dropped into after their loss to Hull City. They also haven't been very clinical up front this season after scoring only 12 goals in the Premier League this season. They had a goal drought of just less than 11 hours which lasted until their goals against Chelsea at the weekend, but it just wasn't good enough for a team in the top flight. Not many people would have been surprised to see Lambert go though, and it did look to have been a long time coming. This followed the news that Harry Redknapp had left QPR earlier in the month, and it probably won't be the last news about a manager losing their job due to poor results before May.

The most shocking news of all managers, in my opinion, is Nigel Pearson. He served a ban and paid a fine in December for getting into a row with one of the Leicester fans, and then seemed to be walking on extremely thin ice after an incident that happened against Crystal Palace at the weekend. James McArthur slid into him after trying to tackle a Leicester player and accidentally tripped him up. This was followed by an episode where Pearson pinned McArthur down by his neck and looked to have him in a strangle hold before letting him get up and then pulling him back again by his shirt. Pearson has said it was all in good spirits and he didn't mean any harm by it, but that still begs the question of why he did it in the first place. The other thing that really shocked me was that the FA didn't do anything about it! Even after the explanation, it deserves a punishment as it isn't setting a good example to people who watched the game. I guess we'll never truly know if there was some malice behind it or not. 

Sometimes, the manager can be in the lime light even more than the players depending on which view the media chooses to focus on. To me, the manager is in a role that should be calm, collected and have the ability to turn games around for their team and this should be focused on from a positive point of view. However, when wrong choices are made by said 'responsible' members of the game, there always really is only one story that the people want to hear about.

MATCH REPORT: Newcastle United vs Stoke City

The game between these two teams may have been understated, but it could be important for both of them. Whichever team wins finishes the weekend in the top half of the table. John Carver finally got his first win since taking charge of Newcastle after beating Hull City 3-0 and names an unchanged team from that game. Stoke have been on a good run in recent games and look to be a tough team to beat.

The game had a relatively quiet start with both sides trying to push forward and play their way past the opposition. However, each attacking move was cut out early on. It took until the 8th minute when Jonathan Walters chested down the ball outside of the 18 yard box. He had nobody in support so decided to take the shot on himself but saw it go just wide of the post. 

Newcastle seemed to take a bit more control in the game after this. Moussa Sissoko was given a lot of space down the left wing and put his cross in towards the far post where Remy Cabella tried to just guide it in with his head but forced to Asmir Begovic to pull off a good save. Minutes later, Newcastle got a throw in that eventually landed to one of their own players, but Ayoze Perez made a run that took him away from goal, so the resulting header was directed far off the target. Sammy Ameobi was also given a chance to recreate the goal he scored at Hull after he turned past Glenn Whelan and took on the shot from outside the box which ended with Begovic only needing to make a simple save.

The first half was end to end but with no telling end ball to find the breakthrough. Newcastle also gave away a lot of cheap free kicks in the wide areas throughout the half and were extremely lucky that nothing came of them. 

The half ended with a chance for both teams at either end. First up were Newcastle, Perez played in Cabella, who's first touch was very poor before he managed to get it under control. His shot was fired across the face of goal and ended up going out for a goal kick. Stoke got the final chance of the half when Stephen Ireland put a cross into the box that was met by Mame Biram Diouf's head giving Tim Krul his first save of the game. 

The second half began in the same way that the first did. Both teams had chances but none looked like they would be the defining moment in the game. Newcastle did begin pushing forward more and Cabella's ball into the box almost landed at the feet of Perez if he had made a slightly later run.

This was followed by a lot of pressure being built up by Stoke. They began pressing higher up the pitch and Newcastle found it extremely difficult to get out of their own half. Instead of trying to play the ball up the pitch, they tried to play it out of their own box and got dispossessed, but were lucky not to see the ball land in the back of their own net. Newcastle really were creating a lot of their own problems and continued to give away cheap free kicks.

It took until the 74th minute for the breakthrough to finally happen when Gabriel Obertan crossed the ball into the box from the right hand side to Sissoko. It looked like he had wasted the chance but managed to pull it back for Jack Colback to direct off the far post and into the net. Stoke will feel hard done by though, as not even 5 minutes before he should have been booked for his second terrible challenge. 

This goal was followed by an onslaught of chances from Stoke. Phil Bardsley saw his speculative effort sail over the cross bar and Ireland hit the back of the net with his curled effort around Krul but was correctly ruled offside. Peter Crouch teed up a perfect shot for Bardsley on the edge of the box but his effort was straight down the middle of the goal and easy for Krul to collect.

It was the substitute who had the final say though. In the final minute, Geoff Cameron crossed the ball very deep into the box where Crouch was waiting in the six yard box. Instead of taking the ball down, he chose to loop his header just under the crossbar and out of Krul's reach. Fabricio Coloccini did try to direct the ball back out again but couldn't get under it, leaving the sides equal at the end of the game just as they had been throughout.