Newcastle Desperate To Reverse Shocking Record Against Fulham!
NEWCASTLE: Given, Carr, Bramble, Moore, Ramage, Duff,Parker (Butt 80), Emre, N'Zogbia, Ameobi, Martins (Rossi 72).
Subs Not Used: Harper, Solano, Sibierski.
Booked: Emre.
Goals: Parker 54.
FULHAM: Niemi, Rosenior, Knight (Bocanegra 78), Pearce,Queudrue, Diop (Radzinski 83), Brown, Bullard (Routledge 34),Boa Morte, John, McBride.
Subs Not Used: Lastuvka, Helguson.
Booked: Brown.
Goals: McBride 82, Bocanegra 89.
Att: 50,365
Newcastle snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as they imploded at home to Fulham.
Leading 1-0 with just eight minutes remaining, the Magpies capitulated woefully as first Brian McBride and then substitute Carlos Bocanegra beat Shay Given to claim an unlikely victory.
A crowd of 50,365 at St James' Park could barely believe their eyes as a game the home side should have had wrapped up long before, after captain Scott Parker had headed them in front, slipped from their grasp.
It was no coincidence that the former Chelsea midfielder had left the pitch seconds before McBride's 82nd-minute strike after turning in an inspirational individual display.
But with new £10million signing Obafemi Martins ineffectual on his home debut and Shola Ameobi clearly not 100 per cent fit, the first of seven games inside 23 days turned horribly to condemn the Magpies to a second successive Barclays Premiership defeat.
Twenty-four hours short of a year to the day since Fulham's last visit to Tyneside, they returned to a stadium filled with anticipation.
This time last year, £17million signing Michael Owen made his debut, although the visitors almost spoiled the party when it took a late equaliser from Charles N'Zogbia to snatch a point for Newcastle.
Twelve months on and with Owen starting his recovery from knee surgery, the onus was on new arrival Martins to provide the goals to suggest there will be life after Alan Shearer.
But that particular question was left unanswered as the home side enjoyed the better of the game, but simply could not make the pressure tell.
Ameobi forced a good save from Antti Niemi, but from an offside position, and in truth, the Magpies' strike-force while hard-working, threatened only fleetingly before the break.
There were chances, however, as Parker and Emre dominated a central midfield battle which lost the unfortunate Jimmy Bullard to what looked like a serious knee injury after a 32nd-minute clash with Parker.
Duff, who had earlier drilled a long-range shot just wide, called Niemi into action two minutes before the break with a well-struck drive and full-back Stephen Carr sent a fizzing long-range effort just over in injury-time.
However, although N'Zogbia and Emre both went close and Ian Pearce had to hack a goal-bound Duff effort off the line, the Fulham defence was rarely breached.
At the other end, Given had little to do before the break despite having to keep out a first-minute Franck Queudrue free-kick, although he will have been concerned at the ease with which McBride was afforded two headed opportunities.
Martins might have done better within two minutes of the restart when Emre won possession and fed him, but he dragged his left-foot shot well wide.
But Fulham served warning that they were still in the game seconds later when Wayne Routledge, who had replaced Bullard, found himself in acres of space on the right with the path to goal clear.
He struck his shot well, but the recovering Peter Ramage, a central defender playing at left-back, slid in to deflect it over the bar and protect a grateful Given.
But it was Pearce providing the heroics at the other end on 52 minutes when, while appealing for an offside flag which never came, he managed to cut out Martins' header back across goal towards the unmarked Ameobi.
But his efforts counted for little as Newcastle took the lead within two minutes.
Emre curled an inviting ball into the box for Parker to meet it with a downward header which flew past Niemi and into the bottom corner.
The relief was palpable, and N'Zogbia might have extended the lead three minutes later when he blasted wide from a tight angle after Ameobi and Parker had carved Fulham open.
The visitors attempted to launch a fightback, but too often found themselves undone by the hugely influential Parker.
Ameobi headed weakly at Niemi under pressure on 66 minutes after Emre had crossed from the left, but there was still work to be done.
Martins made way to warm applause for fellow newcomer Giuseppe Rossi with 18 minutes remaining, but it was N'Zogbia who forced a fine save from Niemi two minutes later with another powerfully-struck shot.
But the Magpies were made to pay for their wastefulness eight minutes from time when McBride turned up at the far post to stab Routledge's cross past Given to level.
But Newcastle had not finished shooting themselves in the foot and were undone again with three minutes remaining when McBride headed Routledge's corner against the bar and Bocanegra bundled home the rebound.
2005/6 NEWCASTLE 1 FULHAM 1
NEWCASTLE: Given, Taylor (Bowyer 45), Boumsong, Bramble, Babayaro, Carr, Faye (Clark 72), Parker, Luque (N'Zogbia 35), Shearer, Owen.
Subs Not Used: Elliott, Harper.
Sent Off: Parker (83).
Booked: Parker, Faye, Bowyer, Clark.
Goals: N'Zogbia 78.
FULHAM: Warner, Volz, Knight, Bocanegra, Niclas Jensen, Radzinski (John 70), Claus Jensen, Diop, Malbranque, Boa Morte, McBride (Helguson 81).
Subs Not Used: Batista, Elrich, Christanval.
Booked: Bocanegra.
Goals: McBride 13.
Att: 52,208
Ten-man Newcastle needed the brilliance of teenage substitute Charles N'Zogbia to prevent record signing Michael Owen's welcome party turning into a wake.
Owen's debut was heading for defeat when the French youngster curled home their first Barclays Premiership goal of the season with a superb free-kick 12 minutes from time to clinch just their second point.
The £17million man struggled to make the impact for which his new club broke the bank as a lack of creativity and shambolic defending behind him left he and captain Alan Shearer feeding off scraps.
Fulham were comfortably the better side and will know that, had they taken their chances, N'Zogbia's strike would have been irrelevant on an afternoon when under-pressure Magpies' manager Graeme Souness was able to field £33million worth of summer signings.
One of them, Scott Parker, was sent off seven minutes from time for a second yellow card.
Souness took something of a gamble when he moved in-form central defender Steven Taylor to right-back to release Stephen Carr for a midfield role with Nolberto Solano suspended, Kieron Dyer and Emre injured and Jermaine Jenas and James Milner having left the club.
Just where he expected the creativity to come from with the defensively-minded Carr, Parker and Amdy Faye, who has rarely looked like a Premiership player during his time at Newcastle, is debatable.
When £9.5million signing Albert Luque, a striker playing as a left winger, was carried off with a hamstring injury before the break Newcastle's woes deepened.
The home side were able to create little or nothing apart from a fourth-minute Shearer effort which was tipped away by keeper Tony Warner and two half-chances for Owen which went begging.
More worryingly, they were unable to contain a Fulham midfield in which Steed Malbranque and Claus Jensen toyed with their opponents with Tomasz Radzinski and Brian McBride taking advantage of some shambolic defending.
It was Taylor's dreadful 13th-minute back-pass which allowed Radzinski and former Newcastle target Luis Boa Morte to set up McBride for the opening goal, although Jean-Alain Boumsong's slip made the American's task all the easier.
Shay Given had to react smartly after being wrong-footed by a viciously-swerving Papa Bouba Diop drive 10 minutes before the break and the home side left the pitch at half-time to a bemused silence.
Taylor, who had collided with a post before the break, was replaced by Lee Bowyer, who had passed a late fitness test on a groin injury, with Carr resuming at right-back.
The former Tottenham man floated an early free-kick into keeper Tony Warner's hands and Shearer headed wide from a Celestine Babayaro cross, although he fouled Carlos Bocanegra in the process.
However, Fulham might have been out of sight by then as the Magpies repeatedly crumbled at the back.
Given got Titus Bramble, returning after a fractured elbow, off the hook, after 47 minutes with an excellent block from Radzinski and N'Zogbia cleared Diop's header off the line before McBride headed straight at Given after profiting from another slip by the hapless Boumsong.
Newcastle rallied with Faye testing Warner, although not to any great extent, from 25 yards and N'Zogbia seeing a driven cross deflected away from Shearer.
But the harder Owen tried, the less effective he became and with the visitors twice going close on the counter-attack through Boa Morte and McBride, they continued to look the more likely scorers.
Indeed, substitute Collins John could have wrapped up the points with his first touch when he got behind Bramble but fired wide after 71 minutes.
Carr went desperately close to an equaliser after 75 minutes when his piledriver came down off the crossbar but salvation arrived in the shape of N'Zogbia with 12 minutes remaining after Owen had been felled by former Magpies' target Boa Morte on the edge of the box.
The French teenager curled an unstoppable free-kick past Warner to level and set up a tense finish.
Newcastle's chances of victory were dealt a hammer blow within five minutes when Parker was booked for the second time for a tug on Claus Jensen's shirt, and the Dane crashed the resulting free-kick against Given's crossbar.
2004/5 NEWCASTLE 1 FULHAM 4
NEWCASTLE: Harper, Hughes (Robert 57), Elliott, O'Brien, Bernard (Ameobi 68), Bellamy, Butt, Bowyer, Jenas, Shearer, Kluivert.
Subs Not Used: Bramble, Johnsen, Caig.
Booked: O'Brien.
Goals: Bellamy 77.
FULHAM: Crossley, Volz, Knight, Rehman, Bocanegra, Malbranque, Diop, Pembridge, Boa Morte, Cole, John (Radzinski 57).
Subs Not Used: Legwinski, McBride, Rosenior, Van der Sar.
Booked: Volz.
Goals: John 28, Malbranque 65, 71 pen, Boa Morte 76.
Att: 51,118
Fulham staged a classic smash-and-grab raid at Newcastle to claim a stunning 4-1 victory.
Battered to the very brink of submission for more than an hour, Chris Coleman's side had keeper Mark Crossley to thank for a series of remarkable saves as shots and headers rained in on his goal.
But for Crossley, the Magpies might have scored seven or eight, but by the time they did finally beat him, the game had been snatched from their grasp by a ruthless display of counter-attacking football.
If Collins John's opener came against the run of play and courtesy of a generous decision by referee Howard Webb, there was little wrong with what was to follow as Steed Malbranque scored the second and third and laid on a fourth for Luis Boa Morte.
Craig Bellamy pulled one back 13 minutes from time, but Newcastle's humiliation was complete as they slumped to a second successive Barclays Premiership defeat against a side they fully expected to beat comfortably.
Graeme Souness had warned his players to expect a much tougher test than they had endured against Dinamo Tbilisi on Thursday evening, although he may not have expected it to come in the form it did.
The first half was the story of two men, one as a result of his brilliance, the other because of the two main talking points in the game.
Crossley was the man who excelled himself with a series of stunning saves as the Magpies ripped into their opponents with a real relish.
The game was only three minutes old when Lee Bowyer played a one-two with Patrick Kluivert down the right and thumped in a rising shot which Crossley did well to parry and then recover in time to beat away Bellamy's volleyed follow-up.
His left foot came to the rescue 11 minutes later when Jenas broke down the same flank and squared to Bowyer, who's left-footed effort seemed destined for the bottom corner until the keeper intervened.
Robbie Elliott was next to try his luck, meeting an Olivier Bernard cross with a firm header which Crossley just managed to palm around the post, and he got his slice of luck six minutes before half-time when Bellamy's shot was hacked off the line and Kluivert smashed the rebound into his face from point-blank range.
In the meantime, however, the visitors had taken the lead and managed to preserve it with a helping hand from referee Mr Webb.
The official ruled that Zat Knight had not fouled Alan Shearer deep inside the Fulham half when most of the 51,118 spectators at St James' Park thought otherwise, and Papa Bouba Diop and Boa Morte moved the ball swiftly upfield to allow John to beat keeper Steve Harper, standing in for Shay Given for the first time in the Premiership since January 2001 as the Irishman attended the birth of his first child.
Mr Webb did little to redeem himself in the eyes of the home supporters on 31 minutes when Diop appeared to fell Shearer inside the penalty area as he ran on to Kluivert's return pass, and Souness' protests saw him sent from the bench.
Fulham's late return after the break simply served to galvanise the home side and it took a superb 48th-minute block by Knight to deny Shearer after Kluivert had cleverly played him in.
For all the pressure, the visitors were defending perhaps more comfortably than they had at any other point in the game, and Souness knew he had to try something different.
To that end, he sent on winger Laurent Robert for Aaron Hughes with 57 minutes gone and the Frenchman almost did the trick within a minute.
Robert took control from a free-kick 30 yards out after Diop had fouled Shearer and drove in a swerving free-kick which Crossley just managed to turn away at the death.
The keeper excelled himself once again on 63 minutes to keep out Kluivert's powerfully-struck shot on the turn, and Fulham took full advantage to increase their lead two minutes later.
Cole robbed O'Brien and squared for Steed Malbranque to fire past the helpless Harper and make it 2-0.
Souness went for broke by replacing left-back Bernard with striker Shola Ameobi, but the Magpies simply fell apart.
Malbranque made it 3-0 from the penalty spot on 70 minutes after Elliott had felled substitute Tomasz Radzinski, and Boa Morte made it four 14 minutes from time after being sent clear by Malbranque with the home defence - or what was left of it - in complete disarray.
Bellamy pulled one back with a back-post header a minute later, and although the Magpies laid siege to Crossley's goal to the death, their hopes had died long before.