Newcastle United: What-If scenarios from this season

Newcastle United have experienced a wide range of situations this season, but what if some things were handled differently and what if some situations never occurred?

Newcastle United are currently 14th in the Premier League table with nine points from 12 matches after starting the season with a 10-match winless streak, including five straight losses at St. James’ Park. Sorry for the reminder, but at least the Magpies have turned things around with back-to-back victories against Watford and Bournemouth this month to begin their gradual climb.

On paper, Newcastle’s start to the season was a nightmare. However, the Magpies also had their fair share of bad luck along the way. Poor form only played a limited role in some matches. With that being said, if the following scenarios had played out differently Newcastle would feel more comfortable in the standings today.

Woodwork (twice) vs. Tottenham

Despite losing this match, Newcastle looked competitive in this match and everyone agrees that they deserved at least one point. However, there were two key moments in this match that could have made the final outcome 3-2 in favor of the Magpies.

Newcastle almost equalized when Mohamed Diame struck the left post off from the edge of the penalty area in the opening minutes of the second half. Had that strike been a goal, a new level of intensity would have taken over this match. Newcastle then came close to scoring yet again in the final minutes of this affair when Salomon Rondon’s shot took a deflection and bounced off the frame of the goal. That goal would have at least guaranteed Newcastle a point or three if Diame had scored.

Missed Penalty vs. Cardiff City

This match was 0-0 going into stoppage time until the Toon Army let out a major roar in the visitors section of Cardiff City Stadium after a hand ball led to a penalty for Newcastle. Rafa Benitez designated Kenedy to take the kick in the 95th minute, but the Brazilian saw his weak strike saved by the keeper.

Now, if Kenedy had scored that penalty kick, Newcastle would have returned home with three points in the bag in the second week of action. An early win is always nice to have and it could have altered the Magpies’ mentality heading into some of their difficult matches against elite clubs.

Penalty and Own Goal vs. Chelsea

The first 80 minutes of this match were difficult to watch as Newcastle simply parked the bus with the aim of securing one point from a title contender, but the last ten minutes were quite eventful. Three goals were scored in the final ten minutes, but two of them were scored by Chelsea.

Feel free to disagree with me here, but Fabian Schar’s tackle on Marcus Alonso was not a penalty as Alonso started losing his balance on his own and Schar clearly got the ball. No penalty here would have opened up the game in the final ten minutes and, at the very least, Newcastle would have claimed a crucial point. An additional incident that would have secured Newcastle one point after Joselu’s equalizer was avoiding the own goal. DeAndre Yedlin was unlucky after working hard all afternoon and if his foot never got in the way that ball was going out of play.

All in all, the aforementioned scenarios remind us one thing – it only takes one moment to completely alter the outcome of a match.