Post Match report for the Newcastle Utd game - Saturday, 21st September 2019

PREMIER LEAGUE: Newcastle v Brighton - 21/9/19 P6

ALBION HUFF & PUFF FROM BACK TO FRONT BUT STAY LEVEL END TO END


VENUE: St James Park, Newcastle - third away match of six fixtures to date.
RESULT: 0-0 . SHAPE: 5-4-1 . REF: experienced and will not worry about much on the long drive back to bed.

PREAMBLE: it was a long way to go for Brighton fans from Sussex & southern climes so Scottish Seagulls & remote northern exiles were expected to fill gaps in travelling support. But September had been sunny & mild therefore logistical positives were readily taken at kickoff.
GATE: 43,360 . WEATHER: pleasant evening as dusk gathered.

GRAHAM POTTER had March injured & Murray benched but Montoya regained health after illness. Thus Alzate on debut & Mooy also now started.
Substitutes included big Duffy & little Connolly again.

TEAM: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. . . . . . . 15 Webster, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn
. 22 Montoya, 6 Stephens, 24 Propper, 46 Alzate
. . . . . . . 13 Gross, 7 Maupay, 18 Mooy.

BENCH: 27 Button, 3 Bong (81), 4 Duffy, 8 Bissouma (82), 28 Baluta, 17 Murray, 44 Connolly (70).


GOALS: none. Zero, zip, zilch.

INCIDENTS: during the opening 45 mins Ryan made a save with feet, although hosts hardly tested him otherwise. They even feigned injury allowing a breather and regrouping.
Connolly had a lob cleared off the line shortly after taking to field of battle.

YELLOWS: 83 - Dunk is penalised during late phases.

SUBS: 70 - Mooy was replaced by Connolly who pressed forward on the left. 81 - Bong came on for Gross while Bissouma arrived in lieu of Maupay.
Potter made subtle shifts in order to keep pedal to the metal but it all petered out into two average sides in mundane competition.

ANALYSIS: visitors were on the front foot from the get go and racked up possession minute by minute. Forward play was full of pace and build-up in regularly gaining the final third. The ball flashed from various BHA boots to any number of colleagues footware and it all looked purposeful with intent to open scoring.
At the break it remained goalless and pundits were next left to decide if the home outfit had defended well or travellers just flattered to deceive. In fact if locals had proportionally been sharper up front they may still have snatched an unlikely lead against general run of play.
Whatever half-time team-talks determined turn of events, it was probably more difficult for the away eleven to up the ante bar actually registering additional shots on target. Thereby hangs nub of the tale because locals, from law of averages at least, would get further into the game at alternate stages.
Stalemate persevered while the game became stretched and the proverbial official clock ticked toward developing darkness. Something extra was required to break deadlock.
Albion went home with a point & clean sheet but another fail to score stat.
Potter is faced with the same problem at point that finally established a death knell for Hughton: any player to step into the goal-scoring role.
MoM - Alzate, energetic and useful display.

NUMBERS: shape 343-541, poss 29%-71%, on target 4-3, off target 7-13, corners 5-3, fouls 12-8, yellows 2-1, subs 3-3.

FS