Newcastle 2 - 1 West HamJonjo Shelvey’s pass-mastery delivers Newcastle to win over West Ham
Home team scorersAyoze Perez 6
Georginio Wijnaldum 15
Away team scorersNikica Jelavic 49
Georginio Wijnaldum scores Newcastle’s second goal against West Ham at St James’ Park.
Jonjo Shelvey announced his £12m arrival on Tyneside with a characteristically chameleon-like performance. If his role in helping create both Newcastle United’s goals while also contributing the afternoon’s best passes delighted his new public, the former Swansea midfielder looked lucky to escape a sending off as Steve McClaren finally got the better of Slaven Bilic.
Newcastle’s former England manager and West Ham’s ex-Croatia coach are good friends and embraced warmly at a final whistle which brought McClaren his first win in seven games and a precious three points in the struggle for Premier League survival. It left Bilic clearly disappointed by a setback which dented his European ambitions on an afternoon when West Ham only really seemed to wake up following Nikica Jelavic’s introduction.
Newcastle have long lacked a midfielder possessing a passing range as varied as Shelvey’s and the new boy did not take long to show the St James’ Park crowd what they have been missing.
It was his fabulous long pass which picked out Daryl Janmaat wide on the right in the preamble to the second goal. It left the right-back to whip in a cross which was met on the volley by Georginio Wijnaldum and, as it whizzed past Adrián, McClaren had reason to reflect on just how much more effective the Dutchman had been since his repositioning in a new role behind Aleksandar Mitrovic.
As the impressive Wijnaldum celebrated his ninth goal of the season Newcastle fans were enjoying the rare sensation of having a two-goal cushion. Taking full advantage of a an extremely wobbly start on West Ham’s part, Ayoze Pérez had provided his team with an early lead, curling a clever shot from the edge of the area just inside a post in the wake of Shelvey’s smart pass and Wijnaldum’s equally adroit lay-off.
In between the goals it took a splendid sliding tackle from Fabricio Coloccini to prevent Michail Antonio from scoring in the wake of Aaron Cresswell’s cross but, generally, McClaren’s side were displaying an almost unprecedented degree of control. With Shelvey at their heart they no longer looked the sort of team who only really threaten on the counter-attack. It also helped that Jack Colback – his place suddenly under threat from Henri Saivet, signed from Bordeaux to further reinforce midfield last week – was also having a decent game.
The Gallowgate could well have been celebrating a third but Moussa Sissoko saw his shot blocked after a split second of debilitating hesitation. Shortly afterwards Shelvey experienced one of those red mist moments to which even his biggest fans would admit he can be prone.
Blocking Enner Valencia’s advance with a hefty off-the-ball upper-arm barge was not really a good idea and Swansea was arguably fortunate not to be shown a red card. The sight of Valencia going down clutching his face prompted a mini melee and Neil Swarbrick, the referee, called on the captains to help restore order. When the dust settled Shelvey was not even booked. This opens the door to potential retrospective action from the Football Association based on video evidence but that would be dependent on Swarbrick saying he had not seen the incident. Seeing as the referee was very close to the combatants at the time this may be unlikely.
Slaven Bilic’s concern was how to get his side back into things. His solution was to replace Pedro Obiang with Nikica Jelavic at half-time and it swiftly looked a very good switch.
Indeed Jelavic scored with his second touch. Having intercepted Chancel Mbemba’s negligent backpass – with Valencia’s close attendance perhaps scrambling the centre-half’s mind – he rounded Rob Elliot before rolling the ball into empty net and claiming his first Premier League goal since moving to Upton Park. If that represented harsh luck on Elliot who had made a good save from Cheikhou Kouyaté at the end of the first half, it was a moment to rue for Wijnaldum who, immediately before Jelavic’s goal, had missed an excellent chance.
McClaren responded by introducing Saivet and withdrawing Paul Dummett in a rejig in which Colback moved to left-back. Revamped, Newcastle rallied and Adrián did well to repel Mitrovic’s shot.
Yet with Victor Moses now on Bilic’s players were a long way from surrendering. Newcastle needed another goal and might have had one had Mitrovic made the most of another stellar Shelvey pass. Good as he was though Shelvey did lose the ball in dangerous areas and Elliot performed wonders to deny Kouyaté with a knee following Jelavic’s cross. McClaren can rarely have looked more relieved than at the conclusion of seven minutes’ stoppage time.
Guardian