Newcastle brilliant then broken against Chelsea as Back To Basics slips into familiar fragility

Newcastle United were absolutely back to their best for 45 minutes against Chelsea before doing what they have done so many times this season: shattering into a thousand pieces.

The first-half battle was reminiscent of the Magpies’ clash with arch-rivals Sunderland last weekend. There was one team bang up for it and another who clearly wanted to be anywhere else. Newcastle rattled Chelsea from the first whistle and Chelsea, predictably, did not enjoy being rattled.

This is Newcastle at their best. High intensity. Relentless pressing. Turning games into dogfights their opponents are ill-prepared for. They finally played to their strengths and Chelsea simply couldn’t cope. Their players were trying to buy fouls, spending time on the ground and visibly wilting under the atmosphere and Newcastle’s aggression.

Eddie Howe officially went Back To Basics.

Even allowing for Newcastle’s unconvincing recent form and the pressure building on Howe, their first-half performance gave little indication of what was to follow, or how quickly everything would unravel.

Nick Woltemade’s brace had the Magpies 2-0 up at half-time and St James’ Park bouncing. It was all Newcastle and Chelsea looked beaten.

Four minutes into the second half, Newcastle were reminded how fragile they have become. Reece James’ free-kick was absolutely perfect and suddenly the ground tightened, the confidence drained and the familiar fear crept in.

Those fears have lingered all season and they resurfaced immediately. Newcastle’s grip loosened, their good work began to unravel and it soon felt inevitable that Chelsea would find an equaliser.

Trevoh Chalobah then undid all of Chelsea’s momentum by wiping out Anthony Gordon by the byline and conceding what looked like a stonewall penalty…except referee Andy Madley and VAR Peter Banks were the only people watching who didn’t see it that way.

The Premier League Match Centre explained on X: ‘The referee’s call of no penalty to Newcastle was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact from Chalobah on Gordon deemed to be side-to-side in a shielding action and the ball within playing distance.’

Genuinely baffling. Calling that a ‘shielding action’ is laughable. Chalobah wiped Gordon out. Everyone saw it. Everyone except the people paid to give those decisions.

Newcastle had to regroup and find another goal because it always felt Chelsea would get one more. That sense proved accurate when former Magpies transfer target Joao Pedro slid the ball under Aaron Ramsdale, who remains without a clean sheet this season after 10 appearances.

From that moment on, it was Chelsea in the ascendancy in the biggest game of two halves Newcastle have played this season. The contest was there to be won, but substitute Harvey Barnes spurned golden chances while Enzo Maresca bizarrely persisted with Alejandro Garnacho, who spent the afternoon peeking out of Lewis Miley’s back pocket.

Miley was outstanding on another deeply frustrating day for Garnacho – and for Chelsea fans forced to watch him. Comparisons to Paolo Maldini might be a bit f**king mental, but the teenager has had a very, very good week playing at right-back.

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He was Newcastle’s best player on the day, even with Woltemade scoring twice, and his performance is another clear positive for Howe. But positives are increasingly hard to cling to when points keep being dropped and familiar problems keep reappearing. Newcastle also had every right to feel aggrieved by the officials, with James escaping a red card in injury time.

The penalty decision will be what Newcastle blame the draw on. They didn’t help themselves but that was a shocking call and it changed the outcome, assuming the hosts would have converted from the spot.

Fragility is becoming the defining word of Newcastle’s season, which feels especially strange at St James’ Park. This was a fortress under Howe, a place where opponents were bullied into submission. Now Newcastle are throwing away leads, conceding momentum and losing control of games they once thrived in.

It was a tale of two halves. The first showed everything that makes Howe’s Newcastle so effective: intensity, aggression and emotional chaos. The second exposed every flaw that has crept in this season.

The frustrating thing is that the blueprint still works. Newcastle proved that again here. They rattled Chelsea, overwhelmed them and looked every bit the side that once made St James’ Park a nightmare.

But this version of Newcastle cannot sustain it. Not emotionally. Not mentally. And until they can, 45 good minutes will continue to count for absolutely nothing.