The Long Wait Is Over: A Goal And A Win

BREAKING: We can confirm that Newcastle United is, in fact, capable of scoring a goal. Here are three more conclusions after Newcastle ended its 450-minute scoring drought with a last-minute, 1-0 win over Aston Villa at St. James' Park:

The striking solution
Loic Remy plays with a swagger that borders on cockiness, and thankfully for Newcastle, one terrible miss didn't stop him from banging in the game winner a few minutes later.

That's quite a contrast to Papiss Cisse, who continues to look like he's lost all belief in himself. Cisse had about as point-blank of a chance as you'll get in the Premier League when Remy set him up in the first half, only to shank his shot way over the crossbar.

Newcastle gained steam when Luuk de Jong replaced Cisse in the 72nd minute, culminating with Remy's goal. At this point, Alan Pardew's decision is clear cut: Remy and de Jong need to start together the rest of the season. True, they're both on loan, but de Jong is a likely summer signing and it would behoove Pardew to revive the Dutchman's scoring form.

Cisse's chances of ending his personal Premier League drought — he hasn't scored from the run of play since last April — took a hit when Pardew switched his team to a 4-5-1 formation (with the Senegalese on the right wing) to try to get a foothold in the center of the midfield. At this point, though, Cisse looks so hopeless that it's ridiculous to justify building a system around him.

Dummett does the job
As Matt wrote on Friday, Pardew would be wise to test some of his young players in the season's final stretch, considering Newcastle has very little to play for.

While Sammy Ameobi was nowhere to be found today, Pardew at least gave Paul Dummett, one of the two promising left backs on the roster, a start in place of Davide Santon. The Italian Phil Neville was apparently injured, which no doubt saddened all lovers of aimless dribbling and bewildered looks.

Dummett had one very shaky moment in the first half, a miscontrol that set Villa off on a dangerous counter attack. Apart from that miscue, though, he played fairly well. Newcastle's roster is so lacking in quality crossers that Dummett also handled corner kick duty, and he actually whipped in some decent left-footed efforts. And in a game in which Newcastle seemed determine to hammer long-range shot after long-range shot, Dummett also had one of the more promising strikes, only to see it curl just over the crossbar.

We already know who Santon is as a left back, so there's no real value in giving him minutes at the position just to try to solidify a grip on eighth place. But it's not yet clear whether Dummett is a starting-caliber Premier League left back (the same could be said about Massadio Haidara, which is pesky). It's time to find out.

Muddled in the middle
Newcastle — and Pardew, for that matter — sorely needed a win, regardless of the quality of the performance. But let's just be honest: This wasn't a real impressive showing up until the last 15 minutes or so. Villa outplayed Newcastle in the first half, controlling the center of the midfield and creating some threatening counter attacks.

Vurnon Anita and Cheick Tiote had to deal with three bodies — Fabian Delph, Karim El Ahmadi and Ashley Westwood — in the middle of the park, and they didn't answer the challenge. Tiote looked rusty and fell back into his old fouling habits, while Anita was invisible for long stretches. To Anita's credit, he improved as the game wore on and covered plenty of ground.

It's tiring to continue to lament the loss of Yohan Cabaye, but you'd be a fool not to notice how much the Dreamboat elevated his central midfield partners. Pardew has to be tempted to use a 4-4-2 with Remy and de Jong up top in the final 11 games, but he's going to have to weigh that urge against the need to give Anita and Tiote some help in the middle. Moussa Sissoko is the obvious — and only real — candidate, considering the only midfielder on the bench today was Dan Gosling, he of the dashing mustache. That could mean reverting to the 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 alignment, with Sissoko in front of Anita and Tiote, and Remy and Yoan Gouffran flanking de Jong.

Comments

[Jaeger]

we really need to find someone in the summer who can cross the bar with accuracy (including corners).. when was the last time we scored from a cross or set piece? (remy vs. norwich i think?)

i thought dummett played very well, obviously needs more minutes to get a good glimpse but in all of his appearances this year, he's never been the worst player on the team.

thought willo and colo looked solid, and willo had a great tackle against benteke during a counter in the second half.
If we are mentally in it, we can hopefully beat Hull in a very imporant match for staying in top 10.

[Phil Kennedy]

VERY good summing up mate, and I continue to be impressed by the long distance awareness of the club and genuine affection, similar to our own a couple of miles down the Tyne ! ;-)
The Cabaye situation had me in a rage then, and still continues to have me in a rage. Pardew hasn't endeared himself to fans by saying little at the time, and even half-complimenting that destructive parasite Kinnear.
I worry about next season. We'll lose Remy (and who can blame him ?) and we'll get more loan deals and bargain bucket deals.
I worry, but will still rage on....but still support too

[Ben]

de jong won this game for us btw