3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Crystal Palace 2 Newcastle 0

The Mag

·24 April 2024

3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Crystal Palace 2 Newcastle 0

Wednesday night’s match ended Crystal Palace 2 Newcastle 0.

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

OneFootball Videos

Plenty to talk about after this one…

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

POSITIVES

The Boy from Brazil

Thank goodness for Bruno Guimaraes.

He is a fantastic player and carries our midfield.

If it wasn’t for him, we’d have been on an even stickier wicket this evening.

I sincerely hope we don’t lose him in the summer. That would be an unmitigated disaster.

Our Goal Difference didn’t suffer too much

With Man United stealing a march on us tonight, it might feel like 6th place is a long shot, but we’ve still got to play them and our goal difference is vastly superior, which the pundits will tell you is worth a point at the business end of the season.

Calum Wilson is back

It was good to see our number nine back in the squad and given a run out after an hour.

Whilst he didn’t offer too much this evening, Callum could well play a pivotal part in the run in.

NEGATIVES

It was the manner of the defeat that stung

That performance was a bit gutless wasn’t it?

Too many passes going astray, weak in the tackle and not enough fight.

We were second best all over the park and got what we deserved. Zilch.

Denied a certain penalty?

Both the referee and VAR can’t be wrong can they?

When Longstaff went down, my initial thought was what it usually is in such circumstances – ‘why can’t he stay on his feet?’

I think the replay showed that Sean was hard done by and had it been given, we might have got a foothold in the game at a crucial time

We came up against a team in good form

Palace have been bang average all season but that’s their third win on the bounce after getting a result at Anfield and trouncing West Ham on Sunday.

We also came into this with our tails up having hammered Spurs 4-0, but despite the 11 days between our most recent games, I was surprised that compared to Palace, our energy levels looked severely depleted.

Stats via BBC Sport:

Crystal Palace 2 Newcastle 0 – Saturday 24 April 8pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Palace:

Mateta 55, 88

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Palace 47% (51%) Newcastle 53% (49%)

Total shots were Palace 20 (9) Newcastle 6 (1)

Shots on target were Palace 7 (5) Newcastle 2 (0)

Corners were Palace 7 (4) Newcastle 2 (0)

Referee: Thomas Bramall