Newcastle 0-1 Everton (Alcaraz 65′)
ST JAMES’ PARK — In the end it didn’t matter for Newcastle United, whose progress will be accelerated by Champions League football next season despite running out of gas on the final day of a historic campaign.
A spluttering finale – partly caused by their own lethargy, partly by the excellence of David Moyes’s Everton side – could have had a profound impact on Newcastle’s future.
Instead it was the strings of the Champions League anthem that rang out around a euphoric St James’ Park at full-time as results elsewhere granted them a reprieve.
Fortunate? Undoubtedly. But also deserved given their efforts over the previous 37 games of a rollercoaster campaign.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan made his presence felt at St James’ Park (Photo: Reuters)Eddie Howe, ever the perfectionist, admitted the paucity of the performance was still gnawing away at him as he bounced in a huddle with players and staff afterwards. “Surreal,” was how he described it and that just about summed it up.
For 15 agonising minutes after Carlos Alcaraz’s goal, they were out of the top five, but Aston Villa’s 2-0 defeat at Manchester United sets up a tantalising summer.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan took centre-stage in the post-match celebrations and dining at European football’s top table again will be transformative.
Howe headed to a meeting with the PIF chief on Sunday night, emphasising that the club wanted to act with “speed” in the transfer market and the intention was to “put right” the damage of three transfer windows without signing a player.
“I will have a discussion with the chairman and representatives from PIF today so look forward to that, trying to lay some foundations to what lays ahead in the summer,” Howe said.
“The planning and all the things that go on behind-the-scenes have been going on for a number of weeks to try and set things up for what we need to do.”
Player of the match: Carlos Alcaraz
Looked a man on a mission to impress David Moyes as he signed off his loan spell.In truth it was an afternoon that emphasised that grabbing a top five place is just the start of the hard work for Newcastle.
They looked knackered here, the absence of big players through the spine of the team felt acutely. Alexander Isak was patched up to play but looked distinctly undercooked, as he has done for weeks.
To prosper playing three times a week against elite opposition, Howe and director of football Paul Mitchell must work wonders in the transfer market over the next couple of months.
But those concerns are for another day. A stuttering display (“I thought we wanted it too much,” the Newcastle manager said) does not take the shine off Howe’s magnificent achievement.
This team was all over the place in December, but he regrouped and led them to their best season in almost 100 years.
Newcastle had emerged to a tifo on the Gallowgate that told them “you entered the pitch as players, you left it as legends”, which reflected their Carabao Cup win while nodding to Champions League football being within touching distance.
for the home side. Everton have been a tough nut to crack under Moyes, so this was never going to be a gimme, but Newcastle really struggled.
And when they did get in behind Everton’s patched-up defence, they found a highly-motivated Jordan Pickford in superb form.
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Perhaps the size of the potential prize contributed to the edgiest of first-halves
Howe opted to roll the dice at half-time, reorganising his team to give them extra numbers in midfield by bringing on Joe Willock for the anonymous Anthony Gordon.
It meant Dan Burn – who signed a new contract on Friday – moving to the left-back slot he had not played in for over a year and Newcastle looked seriously uncomfortable with the changes.
Twice Alcaraz tested Pope, the second of his efforts diverted by a wonderful sprawling save that sent his goal-bound effort wide. Yet it was only delaying the inevitable as Vitalii Mykolenko’s cross was met by the Argentine.
Isak sprung into life to test Pickford with a long-range effort but by then Everton were out of sight. Newcastle’s players slumped to the ground at the final whistle though the desolation was only temporary. Big Champions League nights are back on Tyneside.
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