Thud and blunder… Leeds 0 Newcastle 0

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The Mag

·30 de agosto de 2025

Thud and blunder… Leeds 0 Newcastle 0

A helter skelter, thud and blunder first half, with Jacob Murphy firing the only on-target shot straight at the keeper.

Leeds man-marked Bruno Guimaraes, reducing his usual influence.

Vídeos OneFootball

Tino Livramento looked our most dangerous attacker, storming forward in a wing-back role that suited him more than as a regulation full-back.

Will Osula chased and harried but had just one half-chance, which was flying goalwards until it was blocked two yards in front of the keeper.

Leeds sent in four or five threatening crosses without forcing Nick Pope to save a shot.

Lewis Miley replaced Jacob Ramsey in midfield for the second half. The summer signing was unable to continue after being heavily tackled before the interval.

Leeds made the stronger restart but their shooting was still wayward.

Murphy extended Perri for a second time with a fierce left-footer from distance. Sadly, the resulting Tonali corner was wasted.

Newcastle belatedly cranked up the intensity with nearly an hour gone.

Leeds responded with two substitutions and earned a corner that Pope caught comfortably.

Lewis Hall and Anthony Elanga replaced Trippier and Murphy, allowing Livramento to move across the back five. Elanga immediately looked dangerous but Osula was unable to make anything of his first low cross.

The game was becoming even more stop-start, with the next delay for an injury to Sven Botman, who landed heavily after leaping for the ball. He had to be replaced on his first appearance of the season. Harvey Barnes replaced him on 68 minutes as the Mags switched to the familiar 4-3-3, with Livramento reverting to right-back.

One of our alleged centre-forward targets, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, was sent on for the last 20-odd minutes. Having missed a handful of chances in midweek, he was desperate to atone for Leeds. He miscontrolled his first opportunity and blazed his second well wide.

The free kick tally kept mounting with 15 minutes to play. Osula was a willing runner but lacked quality service and looked a split-second behind the play.

The visitors seemed the more likely to break the deadlock in the final 10 minutes, although the substituted Murphy was still the only player to have had a shot on target.

The whistle-happy ref was making the match almost unwatchable, giving fouls the wrong way almost whenever a player in possession was baulked.

In the 90th minute Calvert-Lewin forced Pope to save for the first time, with his right foot.

Livramento missed a tackle on Harrison near the corner flag but Miley cleared the dangerous cross for a corner.

Sky Sports made Sean Longstaff man of a match that was tailor made for the workaholic defensive midfielder. The 0-0 was a fair result for two teams painfully lacking in firepower.

Leeds 0 Newcastle 0 – Saturday 30 August 2025 5.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Leeds

Possession was Newcastle 57% Leeds 43%

Total shots were Newcastle 8 Leeds 10

Shots on target were Newcastle 2 Leeds 1

Corners were Newcastle 5 Leeds 5

Touches in the box Newcastle 13 Leeds 19

Newcastle team v Leeds:

Pope, Trippier (Hall 61), Schar, Botman (Barnes 69), Burn, Livramento, Tonali, Bruno, Ramsey (Miley 46), Jacob Murphy (Elanga 62), Osula

Unused subs: