Premier League: Nottingham Forest 1 Newcastle United 3 (Murillo 21; Isak 54, Joelinton 72, Barnes 83)
Nottingham Forest are fishing in the waters Newcastle aspire to swim in. Two years ago, it was Eddie Howe’s team breaking up the metropolitan elite. This season, Nuno Espírito Santo’s team have been the provincial outfit punching above their weight. Newcastle, now just a point behind Forest, showed they have the capability to join the throng with a second-half comeback, courtesy of three lovely finishes.
The first was a piece of striking opportunism from Alexander Isak, the second an arrowing, long-range beauty from Joelinton, showing their stomach for the fight. The third, scored by Harvey Barnes after an assist by the influential Sandro Tonali, sent Forest fans barrelling for the exits.
In a season when high rollers are struggling to assert their usual dominance, there are similarities between the pretenders. Evangelos Maranakis, Forest’s owner, is a nation state in himself, just as ambitious – and ruthless – as any autocratic ruler. His manager, Nuno Espírito Santo, has a quiet, diplomatic persona, a steely resolve not far removed from Howe’s. Some of the personnel are familiar, too. Chris Wood was a popular Newcastle player, appreciated for his efforts when relegation was feared. This season has shown his former employers he can be useful in the higher echelons.
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Having downed Arsenal with a rearguard effort and well-executed counters, Newcastle had to shift to the front foot. For the first 45 minutes, Newcastle struggled for the measure of Forest. Howe’s team are not exactly lacking in muscle or aggression. On the sidelines, Jason Tindall, Howe’s right-hand-man-cum-minder, was doing Jason Tindall things to add further fuel. The referee, Anthony Taylor, not popular in Nottingham, was meanwhile barracked from early doors for his delayed booking of Dan Burn, after the defender chopped down Morgan Gibbs-White in full flight.
It made for a heady first-half brew amid a crackling atmosphere. Joe Willock came to the fore for Newcastle and Anthony Gordon’s first real involvement was to volley his teammate’s deflected cross into the Trent End. Nuno’s team of speedsters opted for the counter as their weapon of choice, as well as the set-piece delivery that supplied their goal.
Willock had been penalised for chopping down Ola Aina, and from Anthony Elanga’s free-kick, as Wood made a dummy run, in stole Murillo to clatter a header, expertly taken for a first ever professional goal. The Brazilian, called up by his country for the first time last week, is one of several Forest players pointing to what seemed scattergun recruitment actually delivering quality personnel, even before Edu arrives from Arsenal, as is expected. At that stage, Nikola Milenkovic, Forest’s other centre-back, had Forest fans purring with his reading of the game.
Mats Sels, another former Newcastle player from Championship days, made a fine save from Bruno Guimarães as Newcastle sought swift retribution, following that up with a save from Sean Longstaff’s snapshot. In that first 45, Isak was restricted to one loping run ended by a fine saving tackle from Murillo.
Forest had seen out a first half in which they had reduced their opponent to scraps but with Gordon switched to the left, Newcastle began their second half with renewed fire, Bruno soon whistling a shot wide with his outstep, as Forest’s defenders – and Sels – were forced into increased last-ditch stuff. Forest retained some danger on the counter but after Nicolás Domínguez was sent through on the halfway line, only for Nick Pope to make a save, they lost control of the game.
Domínguez galloped back to defend Newcastle’s next attack but after a corner was forced. Gordon’s ball zipped in and Wood’s stooped head supplied an inadvertent assist for Isak to stab home.
That brought Nuno’s first changes, Elliot Anderson applauded on by both sets of fans, with Jota Silva’s darting energy accompanying him. Anderson is the young player Howe did not want to lose, but a patsy in the PSR wrangles both clubs became involved in over the summer. The boy from Whitley Bay had begun his afternoon on the bench, with Gibbs-White, previously linked with Newcastle, assuming playmaking duties.
Gibbs-White’s effectiveness dwindled badly as Howe’s team gradually picked off Forest and their fans began to fill the air with invective. Taylor further reduced his popularity when booking Nuno’s assistant Rui Barbosa for his complaint that Burn deserved a second yellow for felling Jota.
An anxious atmosphere soon became one of defeatism. Isak, after Gordon had sent away Willock, then aimed a volley at goal that had home fans pausing for breath, only for it to spin wide. Newcastle had become far more dangerous on the counter, and their lead arrived when Elanga lost the ball upfield, and Tonali sent away Isak, whose switch of play gave Joelinton time to switch on to his left foot. Sels could do little to stop a shot that seared into the net. It was left to Barnes to complete a salvage job done well, and puncture those Forest ambitions. – Guardian
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