Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction | OneFootball

Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3 – Sunday 23 February 2025 2pm

Instant fan / writer reaction from some of our regular contributors on The Mag.

A strange afternoon, a brilliant recovery from going behind early on.

Some great goals but then in the second half an inability to keep the ball, which saw Forest come back into the game and make it closer than it ever should have been.

But I’ll say it again… what a massive three points.’

Oden Hudson:

‘An 11 minute miracle period saw us through what was overall a very shaky performance, in which even our goals appeared very fortunate.

We were luckily able to just about ride out what was an incredibly groggy and unenergetic second half performance, with very poor defending from set-pieces once again proving problematic.

Despite our overall poor defensive display, Lewis Hall was almost certainly today’s Man of the Match in a game with few standout displays.

Despite the problems, a victory over high flying Forest is certainly an impressive and important result.’

Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey:

‘Despite his less than convincing performance, the talk of Dubravka bring a better keeper than Pope is baffling, yet that’s what I had to put up with in Level 7 today.

We won.

I’ll take that.’

David Punton:

‘If there was ever a Newcastle United win where you still feel annoyed, then this may well be it!

I had my match reaction all lined at 4-1 but then we put in such a woeful second half that we ended the game very nearly throwing away what was a comfortable winning position.

It would have been calamitous, but we got there, and a win’s a win, right?

The three points are ours, and we did also rattle the cross bar, but do today’s visitors feel aggrieved at just three added minutes at the end of the second half? I would.

The good news is, we were blistering in the first half and scored four in 11 minutes to stun Forest. We really clicked and Willock was back to his best.

Isak the man of the moment taking his tally to 18 and his 50th Premier League goal. A superb sharp shooter.

Alas, it’s the desperate second half that taints the win. We have to play better and work on game management.

A win that puts us into fifth but a win that makes me nervous for that cup final.

Only at NUFC.’

Mark Jankowski:

‘We almost conspired to throw away the win but ultimately our excellent first half was enough to seal the 3 points.

Aside from a senseless mistake from Murphy that led to Forest’s opener we were completely dominant.

The second half was a complacent and passive affair which allowed Forest to bumble their way back to 4-3.

Fortunately, we’d done enough to earn the win.’

Tony Mallabar:

‘Carl Froch, Robin Hood, Rock City music venue…( ok am running out of famous Nottingham folk here).

Your boys took one hell of a beating (first half).

Great to see another 3 points.’

Billy Miller:

‘And exhale.

We were sublime in that first half.

I was bemoaning a poor start from Miley and Murphy but that pair quickly got us ahead after a silly error had us behind early on.

Isak has scored much prettier goals but his brace had us 4-1 up at half time in what was an exceptional performance.

The second half was a completely different story.

Anderson had a point to prove and ran the midfield for large portions of the second period. It was nice to hear the reception he got when he was subbed.

It would be fantastic to see him in the black and white again one day.

It got stressful when Forest pulled it back to 4-3 but we managed to hold on to a massive three points.

Just need Liverpool to batter Man City 8-0 and we’ll be 4th.’

Bazoox:

‘The first Forest goal proves we cannot rely on Championship class players like Murphy and Pope.

Eddie needs to move them on and should never have dropped Dubravka.

We overcome a vibrant Forest eventually after giving up the second half.

I’m unimpressed Eddie.’

Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3 – Sunday 23 February 2025 2pm

(Stats via BBC Sport)

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Miley 23, Murphy 25, Isak 33 pen, 34

Forest:

Hudson-Odoi 6, Milenkovic 63, Yates 90

Possession was Newcastle 57% Forest 43%

Total shots were Newcastle 13 Forest 17

Shots on target were Newcastle 5 Forest 5

Corners were Newcastle 7 Forest 6

Touches in the box Newcastle 34 Forest 26

(We love our 4-3s! Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3 – Read HERE)

Newcastle team v Forest:

Pope, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Bruno, Miley, Willock (Tonali 70), Gordon, Isak (Wilson 87), Murphy (Barnes 70)

Subs:

Dubravka, Longstaff, Krafth, Targett, Osula, Trippier

Newcastle United upcoming matches:

Wednesday 26 February – Liverpool v Newcastle (8.15pm) TNT Sports

Sunday 1 March –  Newcastle v Brighton (1.45pm) FA Cup fifth round – ITV1

Saturday 16 March – Newcastle v Liverpool (4.30pm) Carabao Cup final – Sky Sports