Chelsea dominate Newcastle United at St. James’ Park

This was one of Newcastle United’s worst matches under Rafa Benitez as the Magpies lost 2-1 to Chelsea.

The final whistle has blown on Tyneside as Chelsea completely dominated Newcastle United and comfortably earned a 2-1 victory on the road. This truly was a match to forget for Newcastle as Rafa Benitez’s men simply parked the bus and were not able to do anything offensively.

Chelsea deployed an attack-minded 4-3-3 formation against Newcastle in this match, but Newcastle’s lineup came as a surprise to everyone with Jamaal Lascelles and Jonjo Shelvey out due to injuries. Moreover, the following players made their full debuts for Newcastle today:

• Salomon Rondon
• Ki Sung-yueng
• Fabian Schar
• Federico Fernandez

First Half

The failure to develop a consistent, smooth-flowing passing rhythm has perpetuated for Newcastle in the first half against Chelsea. With only 20 percent of the possession in the first 45 minutes of play, the Magpies did a lot of ball chasing, but were sound defensively.

Despite dominating the first half in terms of statistics, Chelsea did not truly threaten Martin Dubravka as only one of their eight shot attempts was on target. It took Newcastle 30 minutes to settle into this match and they looked decent when they tried moving the ball forward.

With Jonjo Shelvey out of the lineup due to a thigh injury, Newcastle looked to Matt Ritchie and Jacob Murphy to get the ball moving forward down the wings. Ki Sung-yueng and Mohamed Diame did well in intercepting passes and recovering the ball in midfield, but they did little to contribute to the attack.

Salomon Rondon has lived up to his reputation as a bully up top and did well in holding the ball while waiting for support. In addition, the Venezuelan frontman had a great look at goal, but his header went wide. Overall, Newcastle played cautious football and emphasized defense over attack in the first 45 minutes against a Chelsea side that enjoyed great ball movement, but poor execution.

Second Half

The second half consisted of more dismal play from Newcastle. Chelsea were unfazed by the defensive bunker the Magpies created and they kept swinging the ball around in Newcastle’s half. There was not much action until Antonio Rudiger struck the bar from distance as Newcastle’s defense left him an opening to fire a rocket.

The match was only uneventful until the 75th minute when Fabian Schar took down Marcus Alonso in the box and Eden Hazard buried the penalty to give Chelsea a 1-0 lead. Surprisingly, however, Chelsea’s lead did not last long as Rondon’s replacement, Joselu, headed the ball into the net to bring Newcastle on level terms in the 83rd minute.

When it finally seemed as though Newcastle would steal a point against Chelsea, a ground shot from Alonso hit DeAndre Yedlin in the foot which deflected into the goal. This own goal sealed the deal for Chelsea and gave the Blues their first victory at St. James’ Park in seven years.

Final Note

Newcastle were, in simple terms, horrible today against Chelsea. Playing boring football is one thing, but only maintaining 18 percent of the possession and allowing your opponents to complete 913 passes in 90 minutes is outrageous. Life does not get easier for Newcastle as their next match is against Manchester City at the Etihad.

Benitez must hope that Lascelles and Shelvey can return for that fixture. Moreover, the Spaniard tactician must switch things up against Manchester City as his ultra-defensive approach will only open the floodgates of constant attack from the Cityzens.