3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Newcastle 3 Wolves 0 | OneFootball

Wednesday night’s match ended Newcastle 3 Wolves 0.

Ahead of each match we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the game.

Plenty to talk about after this one…

On this occasion it is ‘Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey…’:

POSITIVES

Nine in a row

This could be a negative, believe it or not.

How often do you get the chance to win a tenth consecutive match, a precipice we now stand upon.

I hope I haven’t jinxed us, but that ninth win in a row is very special, a run that started after an abysmal second half display in West London, against a Brentford side we put to the sword in this remarkable run in the League Cup.

That was game number two.

I sincerely hope whoever the Editor asks to pen three Positives and three Negatives after Bournemouth is able to wax lyrical about a tenth consecutive win. That will be a club record.

Alexander Isak

It’s getting a tad boring isn’t it? Isak scores again. Yawn…..

That’s eight successive Premier League games where he’s found the target, scoring eleven in total during this remarkable sequence.

Excluding penalties, our man from Solna is ahead of Mo Salah in the scoring charts, level with that other Scandinavian who plies his trade at the Etihad.

Isak has also gone one better than Shearer and Willock. Is Jamie Vardy’s record under threat? I bloody hope so.

Aside from the goals, I especially want to comment on his assist last night. Not only was it brilliant the way he picked out Anthony Gordon, it was supremely unselfish of him also, reflecting the guy’s unassuming and selfless character.

Miley

Lewis is back and whilst he’ll find it hard to get into that midfield, given how well Sandro, Bruno and big Joe are playing, he did himself no harm last Sunday with his impervious performance and that rocket of a goal.

Last night, looked very comfortable again in patrolling the centre of the park late on.

Great to see.

NEGATIVES

We rode our luck?

Wolves hit the woodwork twice and had other opportunities.

They also had a goal disallowed because of VAR.

Maybe a game we might not have won earlier in the season?

VAR

I am sick to the back teeth of this thing.

Okay, we were on the ‘right side’ of VAR twice last night, but I remain of the view that it has sucked all of the enjoyment out of scoring a goal.

How long did we have to wait for Gordon’s goal to be confirmed as good to go? Ridiculous…..

Wednesday versus Tuesday

Okay, I know I’m scraping the barrel, but our next opponent played on Tuesday and therefore has a full 24 hours recovery time on us ahead of Saturday’s fixture.

Small margins can mean quite a bit at this level but I think we’ll still get past Bournemouth.

Newcastle 3 Wolves 0 – Wednesday 15 January 2025 7.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Isak 34, 57, Gordon 74

Wolves:

Possession was Newcastle 60% Wolves 40%

Total shots were Newcastle 17 Wolves 13

Shots on target were Newcastle 5 Wolves 7

Corners were Newcastle 4 Wolves 2

Touches in the box Newcastle 32 Wolves 23

Newcastle team v Wolves:

Dubravka, Livramento (Trippier 85), Botman, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Joelinton (Miley 83), Bruno, Murphy (Almiron 78), Isak (Osula 78), Gordon (Willock 78)

Unused subs:

Vlachodimos, Kelly, Krafth, Longstaff

Newcastle United upcoming matches:

Saturday 18 January – Newcastle v Bournemouth (12.30pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 25 January – Southampton v Newcastle (3pm)

Saturday 1 February – Newcastle v Fulham (3pm)

Wednesday 5 February – Newcastle v Arsenal (8pm) Sky Sports (League Cup)

Weekend of Saturday 8 February – Birmingham v Newcastle TBC (FA Cup)