Newcastle 0-1 ArsenalFabricio Coloccini 52 o.g.
For Arsène Wenger something is not quite adding up.
Petr Cech enjoyed the quietest of afternoons in Arsenal’s goal yet Steve McClaren and his Newcastle United players were greeted by enthusiastic applause as they strode back onto the pitch and saluted their fans at the end.
The abuse was reserved for referee Andre Marriner and served as a reminder that this was a contest shaped by Alexsandar Mitrovic’s early dismissal. That it took a chance deflection off Fabrico Coloccini’s leg for Arsenal to ultimately win is partly a reflection of Newcastle’s vastly improved commitment, cohesion and tactical intelligence under McClaren but also emphasises that something is not quite clicking for Arsenal.
By the final whistle Wenger’s side must have created around 20 chances but ominously few were truly clear cut. With goalkeeper Tim Krul rarely fully stretched, it was the sort of day when the absent Mesut Özil was missed horribly and players such as Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and even Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey failed to justify the hype which follows their every move.
After collecting two yellow cards within two minutes of stepping off the substitutes’ bench in his first couple of appearances for Newcastle United, Mitrovic added a red to his collection.
Having started in preference to Papiss Cissé at the apex of McClaren’s 4-2-3-1 formation, the Serbia striker lasted 17 minutes before Marriner felt compelled to send him off.
The offence in question was a stamp. It left Francis Coquelin writhing in agony, clutching a shin which could have done without such a brutal introduction to Mitrovic’s studs. In mitigation, the challenge looked mistimed rather than malicious and a booking might arguably have been a more appropriate sanction but Marriner is unlikely to be the last referee who finds the former Anderlecht striker rather too reckless for his liking.
A little earlier another impulsive moment, from Florian Thauvin this time, could and probably should have earned Arsenal a penalty. The French winger, recently arrived from Marseille, got away with tripping Héctor Bellerín inside the area as Newcastle earned a luck escape.
By half time most neutrals would probably have said McClaren’s players deserved their luck. Down to 10 men they worked incredibly hard with Jack Colback and Daryl Janmaat prominent among those doing their utmost to deprive Cazorla, Alexis Sánchez and company the time and space they craved.
Indeed with Arsenal’s game turning a little flat in the wake of Mitrovic’s exit Newcastle probably offered a bigger threat on the break with Moussa Sissoko and Georginio Wijnaldum causing the visitors particular problems on the counterattack. When the latter’s clever turn wrong-footed Cazorla it initiated a dangerous counterattack concluding with Sissoko shooting wide. Yet if Nacho Monreal, Wenger’s left back, was most definitely not enjoying his encounter with Sissoko, Walcott really should have scored rather than miscuing the rebound after Krul could only parry Sánchez’s long range shot.
It came as a minor shock to realise Walcott, preferred to Olivier Giroud in the lone striker role, and Oxlade-Chamberlain were starting a game together for the first time two in two years. For long stretches they both found themselves repeatedly forced into a succession of cul-de-sacs and blind alleys. Then, early in the second half, Krul parried a Ramsey shot and Oxlade-Chamberlain connected with the rebound. It seemed to be sailing harmlessly wide until the ball took a deflection off Coloccini’s out-stretched leg and was diverted into the back of the net.
By that stage Newcastle had collected five yellow cards to complement Mitrovic’s red but, bar one over enthusiastic attempt at tracking back by Thauvin which succeeded in wiping Coquelin out, there had not really been a bad tackle.
One by-product of Marriner’s pedantic zealotry was to galvanise St James Park. Not content with booing the officials off at the interval, they re-doubled their support for McClaren’s players.
With Walcott looking even more out of his comfort zone in the lone striking role than the re-located, out of position, Thauvin, he found himself replaced by Giroud. McClaren had a choice between settling for a rather respectable narrow defeat or going all out for an equaliser.
Sensing that Wenger’s defence was missing Per Mertesacker, sidelined by a chest infection for which he declined to take antibiotics, Newcastle’s manager gambled in the best traditions of Sir Bobby Robson and Kevin Keegan.
In fairly swift succession three attackers - Ayoze Pérez, Cissé and Siem de Jong - were introduced but, with Mikel Arteta on for Oxlade-Chamberlain Arsenal were forcing Newcastle ever deeper as they tightened their grip on the three points.
Guardian