Newcastle United were handily defeated by newly-promoted Norwich City in their second match of the season.
To start their season, Newcastle United played tough and narrowly lost to Arsenal in a 1-0 defeat at home. The next match was on the road against Norwich City, one of three promoted sides from last season. Unlike their performance against Arsenal, Newcastle United did not keep it close at Carrow Road. Before Newcastle United hosts the Canaries on Saturday, we look back at that early-season matchup.
The Details
8/17/19 at Carrow Road
Norwich City 3, Newcastle United 1
The Lineups
Newcastle United
Dubravka/Krafth/Schar/Lascelles/ Dummett/Ritchie/Hayden/Shelvey/Ki/Almiron/Joelinton
Subs: S. Longstaff/Muto
Norwich City
Krul/Aarons/Hanley/Godfrey/Lewis/Trybull/Leitner/Cantwell/Stiepermann/Buendia/Pukki
Subs: Byram/Tettey/Vrancic
The Recap
Playing on the road, Newcastle United looked like the newly-promoted side against the Canaries. Norwich City controlled a large chunk of possession and doubled the Magpies’ shots on target. Teemu Pukki, the Championship Golden Boot winner in 2018-19, scored all three goals for the hosts with one coming in the first half before a second-half brace.
On each goal he scored on the day, the closest Newcastle defender was Emil Krafth. It was a disappointing appearance for the summer signing and definitely saw him fall out of Steve Bruce’s favor. That lineup decision didn’t turn out well for Bruce and neither did the decision to start Ki. The Korean midfielder started in place of Sean Longstaff and was disappointing before Longstaff replaced him.
Despite a late goal for Jonjo Shelvey, off of an assist from Longstaff, the energy and effort level was disappointing for Newcastle United. It was one of the matches early in the season that the club seemed to concede the match and not battle from behind.