Newcastle United 4-0 Leicester City: Joe Buck match reaction

Shields Gazette

Joe Buck reacts to Newcastle United's 4-0 win over Leicester City at St James' Park. Goals from Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and a brace from Jacob Murphy earned Eddie Howe's side a comfortable win.

Transcript

00:00So, Newcastle United return to winning ways with a 4-0 win here at St James' Park over

00:05Leicester City. And in truth, it was one of the more comfortable games they've had all

00:09season and certainly the last couple of years really. Leicester barely laid a glove on them.

00:13To Newcastle's credit, they played really well. They bounced back from, of course, last

00:16week's disappointment and a few disappointment results over the previous few weeks to really

00:21stamp their authority on a game. In a game that we've seen them win numerous times over

00:26the last few years, against a relegation-threatened team at home, they're technically good and

00:30they were very good today. It was one where Newcastle showed their quality and their players

00:36stepped up, their big players stepped up. There's been criticism of people like Anthony

00:40Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak, them sort of players, this year, of can they step

00:44up in games where they're not playing against a top-six side and they did that today. Newcastle

00:50were really good, really good value for that 4-0 win and Ruud van der Soor had been really

00:53disappointed this time. As I said, they barely tested Martin Dabravka in it. Of course, he

00:57was in goal for the injured Nick Pope. He made one save, which was a comfortable save,

01:01I think a 4-0 down or certainly a 3-0 down for Newcastle. Other than that, Newcastle

01:07were really good. Jacob Murphy, he missed a couple of chances actually before he got

01:13his goal. He started scoring for Newcastle. He was a well-worked corner. Anthony Gordon,

01:17Sandro Tonali involved. Caught Leicester napping a bit. Gordon pulled the ball back. Murphy

01:21on Russian and brilliant side-footed shot into the bottom corner to make it 1-0. He'd

01:26had a shot before that left-footed shot go wide and a couple of other decent looking

01:31opportunities. Newcastle should have been 2-0 up really in the first half when Alexander

01:36Isak was then sent three. He was onside but his team shot was saved by Hermansen and Hermansen

01:41had made a couple of decent saves. He stopped one for Anthony Gordon a bit early at 0-0.

01:46At that stage, Newcastle were really, they went into the break 1-0. Can they then stamp

01:50their authority on this game? Can they turn that 1-0 into something bigger and really

01:55get the three points sewn up? They did that within five minutes of the second half. I've

01:58always said on these videos, I've said time and time again, Gas United under Eddie Howard

02:01are best when they're ruthless in attack. When they get that goal, they really stamp

02:04on the throats of their opponents and they did that. So they're after about two minutes

02:08into the second half. Another set-piece goal, this time Gordon's free-kick found Lewis Hall

02:12unmarked in Egan's space at the back post. His header across found Bruno Guimaraes at

02:16the back post to head home. It's 2-0. A brief VAR check for offside, had a little worried

02:22in the stands but it was a quick check so that it was Margie onside. So it was fine.

02:27Newcastle turn it up and then almost straight away, he went and scored a third, this time

02:31through Alexander Isak. Again, Gordon and Hall down the left linked up really well.

02:37Hall's cross took a little nick off Connor Cordy and here was Alexander Isak, perfect

02:41striker's position. Portia's goal to head home from two or three yards. That's all he

02:46needed to do and it was 3-0 and like that within five minutes of the second half, Newcastle

02:50had the point sewn up. You think at that point, will Eddie Hall make some? It was close for

02:53Brentford to come in midweek, Ipswich next weekend and then Villa, Tottenham and Man U

02:59and then Tottenham before the early January. But he stuck with his team and he was roared

03:04at again. Jacob Murphy scored his second of the day. Newcastle could have had loads of

03:08goals to be fair. They missed some good chances. They didn't waste chances as such. I think

03:15they just create a lot of opportunities and maybe on another day, we probably could have

03:20scored six or seven. But it was Murphy who scored his second of the day. Isak had a couple

03:24of really good runs. He was class above everyone else on the pitch today. He ran at the defence,

03:30slipped Murphy in. Murphy, low powerful drive down past Danny Ward who came on for a man's

03:34and a half time. Within 15 minutes of his sub, they conceded three. We can't really

03:37be able to keep it for anything, to be honest. But yeah, he scored his second. He could have

03:42had another one before that. It was a similar situation where Isak slipped him through,

03:46but he hit it over the bar this time. Murphy kept it down low and through his legs. And

03:50you thought at that point, will Jacob Murphy get a hat-trick? Newcastle haven't scored

03:53a hat-trick here since Jose Perez back against Southampton pre-COVID times. I think it's

03:58been over five. Well, it has been over five years now. But Murphy was substituted by Eddie

04:02Howe. He brought on the likes of Willard Sula, Sean Longstaff. Joe Willard got a late run

04:08out at the end. Harvey Barnes came on. Kieran Tripp, yeah. So it was, you know, lots of

04:13subs in. And it was one where, you're not surprised, as I said, there are lots of games

04:16coming up and you feel like Newcastle should wrestle. And they did. Eddie Howe did that,

04:19to be fair. Willard Sula had 20 minutes, had very little to do. Didn't really get too much.

04:23But to be honest, Newcastle went 4-0. They barely, you know, they didn't push too much

04:27for a fifth. And I think that, obviously the fans here would want to see five goals, but

04:31I think that was probably the right thing to do, was reserve their energy for that game

04:34against Brentford Midway, because that is a really big game. And, you know, they've

04:37shown that they can against teams not in the top, traditional top six. They can do

04:42it at all. And they're going to have to do that all again on Wednesday against Brentford,

04:46who are a step up from Leicester City. Don't get me wrong, Leicester were very poor. They

04:49were missing some players, but they were very poor. A deserved 4-0 win. And that's really

04:55what Newcastle needed after a tough couple of weeks. They needed that win. Now, what

04:58they need to do to be consistent, what they haven't done all year, is be consistent and

05:01get that next win. Go to Brentford, sorry, beat Brentford and then go to a switch and

05:05get another win. They can get three wins in a row, one in the cup. You're going into

05:09Christmas and that Boxing Day game against Aston Villa, suddenly two wins in a row. You

05:12threw it at the 75ers in the cup and everything looks rosy. As I said, football's a fickle

05:15game, it can change like that. But right now, Newcastle United are on a high. Brilliant

05:19win against Leicester City. Special mention for Alexander-Eazer, as I said, he was absolutely

05:22fantastic today. And yeah, Newcastle United now host Brentford on Wednesday, full of confidence.

05:28That they can go back-to-back wins, yeah, at St James' Park.

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