Capital gain for Magpies - Late Taylor goal earns Newcastle a well deserved point

15th May 2011
Chelsea 2-2 Newcastle United
Stamford Bridge
Attendance - 41 739


Nothing to play for?


Newcastle United traveled down south to Chelsea safe with the knowledge that they will be enjoying Premier League football next season. The West Londoners had watched their very thin title hopes finally disappear 24 hours previous, with Manchester United wrapping up what has been a hard fought league title. With matters having been decided a week previous, it was suggested that this could be a game in which the players showed little, with their minds on the beach, rather than the pitch. A re-vamped Newcastle side saw young Shane Ferguson and Ryan Taylor brought in to replace the injured Kevin Nolan, as well as the rested Cheik Tiote. The home side started with the misfiring Fernando Torres alongside Nicolas Anelka, with Didier Drogba on the bench.


Match Action


The home side came out with all guns blazing, with Frank Lampard drilling a teasing low ball across the Newcastle goal, forcing Danny Simpson to turn behind for a corner. The same man, Lampard, whipped the corner into the near post, where poor marking allowed Torres to glance the ball on and Branislav Ivanovic to bundle over the line. 


However, the spirit that has played a massive part in Newcastle’s season was never far away, and the Magpies weren’t going to let the home side take out their title frustrations on them. A little ball from Barton put Lovenkrands into a dangerous position, only to be hauled down by John Terry, earning the England international a yellow card. Ryan Taylor, who has missed much of the season through injury, took over set piece duty from Joey Barton, and his miscued free kick deflected off Jonas, wrong footing Peter Cech and ending up in the back of the net.


As the half wore on, Chelsea enjoyed the lions share of possession, despite creating very few chances. Newcastle seemed happy to hit their opponents on the counter attack, an avenue through which they looked increasingly dangerous. Jonas - deployed in a more central role - and young Shane Ferguson, causing the Chelsea backline a few nervy moments with their pace.


The second half continued very much at the same pace as the first, a feisty encounter, which commentator, Ray Wilkins, described as being ‘men against men’. Moments before, Chelsea goal-scorer might have been lucky to stay on the pitch, after being booked by ref Lee Mason, the big Serb refused to acknowledge the referee in a show of dissent. People have received second yellows for much less.

With the game getting on, a display of muscle from the home side saw Drogba, Malouda and Essien all enter the match at the same time - Ancelotti wasn’t satisfied with a draw. The impressive Shane Ferguson came off injured in a display that will have done his reputation no harm. His replacement, the exciting Kazenga LuaLua.

A couple of half chances for Chelsea’s main threat Didier Drogba had gone begging, as the game threatened to fizzle out. However, a free kick just inside the Newcastle half was floated into the penalty area by Lampard, for Alex to power home after a misjudgement by Tim Krul. 8 minutes remained, and the Blues would look to see it out. 

Alan Pardew gave a nice moment to the Ameobi family, bringing Shola’s younger brother Sammy on for Peter Lovenkrands, who was greeted with chants of “there’s only one Ameobi!” 

Into the second minute of stoppage time, Newcastle won a corner, which Ryan Taylor would stand up to the back post. Nile Ranger rose the highest, knocking the ball back across goal to an unmarked Steven Taylor, who made no mistake in heading home a well deserved equaliser with the last touch of the ball. 

Spiderman’s web of influence

An interesting change of role for Jonas Gutierrez today by Alan Pardew, saw the Argentine deployed in a more central role. 

The table above shows the areas in which Jonas completed passes in Newcastle’s last two away games - the draw at Chelsea and the loss to Liverpool. In this match against Chelsea, Jonas was given an almost free role, to roam between the defence and attack, as can be seen with 35% of his completed passes being played on the right hand side of the pitch. This may not sound a lot, but in the previous away match at Liverpool, a miniscule 2% of his passes were played in that half of the pitch. 

Gutierrez is a key player for Newcastle,  and his dribbling ability makes him very hard to shake off the ball. By playing in a more central role, the likes of Ferguson and Lovenkrands were able to take great advantage of Jonas, who, at times, was holding the ball up and allowing the overlapping players to continue on with the ball. An interesting option for Pardew to utilise - especially in the away matches where his side are likely to see less of the ball, and need to make it count. 

Newcastle’s left hand side remains to look its most potent attacking element, with Jose Enrique and Shane Ferguson always looking to go forward. Despite Ferguson playing a little further forward than what is believed to be his natural full-back position, we can see a lot of similarities with Enrique in his all action display.

Both men completed passes right the way down the left hand side, showing the dynamism of the pair, interchanging at will. Should Jose Enrique leave in the summer, as many expect him too, Shane Ferguson could be the perfect replacement.

Man of the Match

Steven Taylor - the London born, Geordie raised centre half was a colossus today for Newcastle, clearing a number of crosses, making crucial blocks and timing his tackles to perfection. In a match which could have saw any one of a number of players receive the man of the match, a last gasp equaliser snatched Taylor the award. Hopefully Pardew will see him as a part of his squad for next year.