Stoke City vs. Newcastle United: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game
Despite dominating large swaths of Monday’s lone Premier League match, Newcastle United once again failed to score away from home and lost 1-0 to Stoke City through a Peter Crouch header.
Stoke, for their part, often appeared to be holding on at times, but thanks to a lack of incisiveness from their guests they never really looked like conceding.
Magpies manager Alan Pardew may now face a battle to save his job, what with club owner Mike Ashley having remarked that a defeat at the Britannia stadium would result in the 53-year-old’s sacking, according to The Telegraph.
Following are some of the winners and losers from Monday’s encounter.
Winner: Victor Moses, Who Came off to a Standing Ovation
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No attacker on either side was as consistently dangerous as Victor Moses on Monday.
The Nigeria international proved a handful for Newcastle right-back Daryl Janmaat until his withdrawal in the 82nd minute, and on the quarter-hour he provided the cross that Peter Crouch headed into the back of the net.
Appropriately, he was given a standing ovation upon being replaced by Oussama Assaidi.
Loser: Fabricio Coloccini, Who Was Out-Jumped by Peter Crouch
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Overall, Fabricio Coloccini didn’t do a lot wrong on Monday, but his lone blunder proved disastrous.
In the 15th minute he allowed Peter Crouch to get away from him and then out-jump him to Victor Moses’ cross—a play that ended up winning the match for Stoke.
Coloccini’s distribution out of the back also tended to be lacking, although he contributed four important tackles over the 90 minutes without picking up a booking (statistics courtesy WhoScored.com).
Loser: Jack Colback, Who Missed an Absolute Sitter
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Jack Colback should have scored a late equaliser for Newcastle on Monday.
In the 84th minute, the midfielder made a well-timed run into the Stoke goalmouth and positioned himself well as Gabriel Obertan, who was a rare bright spot for the Magpies, delivered a cross from the right.
As it turned out, he had the open net gaping when the ball landed at his feet. But instead of simply side-footing it into the back of the net he proceeded to smash it into the crossbar—a miss that could end up costing Alan Pardew his job.
Winner: Marc Muniesa, Who Impressed at Left-Back for Stoke
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A former Barcelona player, Marc Muniesa joined Stoke from the Catalan giants in July 2013 but mainly deputised for Erik Pieters in the left-back position during his first campaign at the Britannia.
But he got the start on Monday against Newcastle, and over the 90 minutes he put forward a performance that will have delighted manager Mark Hughes.
Not only did the 22-year-old move the ball efficiently and combine nicely with winger Victor Moses, but he also completely contained the Magpies’ wide players—Moussa Sissoko, in particular.
Loser: The Entire Newcastle Attack, Which Lacked a Cutting Edge
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Newcastle took 16 shots on Monday but hit the target with only one of them.
This despite a decisive territorial advantage and 10 corner-kicks.
Emmanuel Riviere, who was especially poor, touched the ball just 13 times in the first half before being withdrawn at the break, and each of Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Gouffran, Papiss Cisse and Sammy Ameobi was also ineffective.
What was most troubling about the Newcastle attack, however, was that it seemed to lack any sort of method. One got the feeling manager Alan Pardew was making it up as he went along.
Loser: Alan Pardew, Who Could Well Be out of a Job by the Weekend
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“You’re getting sacked in the morning,” was the taunt from the Stoke supporters.
They may well prove to be right.
On Sunday, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley remarked that a defeat to Stoke could well represent the end of manager Alan Pardew’s tenure at St. James’ Park, as per The Telegraph, and the nature of Monday’s meek display could well have made up his mind.
That said, it’s hard to pin all the blame for the Magpies’ troubles on Pardew. There seems to be a top-to-bottom lack of system and organisation at the club.
