Newcastle United 2 - West Bromwich Albion 1

Summary:

A fortunate late goal denied Albion a deserved share of the points at St James Park. Peter Odemwingie and Romelu Lukaku were recalled to the starting lineup, but a crucial omission was Claudio Yacob, who had failed to recover from an injury sustained last week.

Albion fell behind in the first half to a fine finish from Demba Ba, but could have ended up in the lead had Lukaku taken his chances when through one on one against Tim Krul. However, he put that right ten minutes after the restart when he headed home a good cross from Zoltan Gera.

Albion were forced into bringing Markus Rosenberg on for Graham Dorrans after he suffered a hamstring strain, and played some good football as they tried to take the lead. With a few minutes left, they appeared to be settling for the draw when Goran Popov replaced Gera, but a last minute strike by Sammy Ameobi was deflected by Papiss Cisse's back to give Newcastle the win.

Albion have slipped to eighth place after two defeats in a row and face a Southampton side desperate for a win in eight days time.

oshawabaggie:

A gut-wrenching finish again. For the second week in a row we did enough to get at least a point from a tough fixture and came away with nothing, but it's not time to panic. We were by far the better team in the second half, but a crappy shot from Ameobi off Cisse's back (or his arse) and that was enough.

For the 3rd game in a row we gave up a goal in injury time, which would be cause for concern if it were not for the spirit and effort we continue to show. We were the better team over 90 minutes today and even the commentators thought we were the most likely to take all the points. At least you can't fault us for sitting back to defend a point. But maybe we should.

Just as I was surprised by Fortune's inclusion last week I was stunned by Long's omission today, but I suppose we have to cut SC some slack. He has to keep a lot of players happy, but I wonder how much the chopping and changing affects players confidence? Lukaku redeemed himself with a well taken goal after a couple of bad misses and in the end you have to say the lad deserved his spot. I thought Peter O was poor and Gera maybe stayed on too long (although great cross for the goal).

Their opening goal was the first time this season I can remember both Olsson and McAuley looking bad on the same play. But we move on. Let's give Southampton a drubbing to get that good feeling back again. Boing Boing!

Lamp Baggie:

Good performance at Newcastle but we failed to take our chances & paid the penalty at the death.

Not sure I understand the position re Shane Long, he's on the top of his game at the moment & never gets a full 90 minutes - I rate Lukaku but he's not our player & for me Shane is a better finisher - I would like to see both of them play together - maybe against the Saints.

If we're not careful & the situation continues he may decide to move on I'm sure there would be plenty of takers - he doesn't look to impressed - I spoke to a few Vile fans & they were delighted when SC took him off against them.

Jacob has been an excellent addition to the team - Popov looks the part - Rosenberg failed to impress so far - SC after 9 games looking good for a top ten finish... great stuff!

PS why only 2,000 away tickets for Arsenal?

Philip Cole (RSABaggie):

Another sucker punch right at the end of a match from which we deserved at least point. In the second half it was all one way the longer the half went on. I agree with everything oshawabaggie has written and have just a couple of further points.

We now have, if anything, too many good strikers and I think the last two matches have shown signs that Steve Clarke is trying to keep them all happy by rotation, which has led to the strange starting line-ups and substitutions. This problem may be partially solved if Lukaku is brought back to Chelsea in the January window (and I really hope that doesn't happen) but already it is clear that Marc-Antoine Fortune and Marcus Rosenberg are the two strikers that are most surplus to requirements.

We have gone up a level beyond MAF to be honest. He always gives 100% and can produce the unexpected, but a non-scoring striker needs to offer something really special in hold up play, passing and crosses and MAF doesn't offer more in these areas than we already have. Loan out and transfer in the January window. This season's Somen Tchoyi.

Marcus Rosenberg clearly and understandably lacks game sharpness, so when he's brought on for a few minutes he tends to weaken the team. In the nearly twenty minutes that he was on he had a number of opportunities of which a sharper player would have made more. Clearly he has talent but he needs more game time to get his sharpness back. At the moment we can't give it to him, which is a problem.

I've never been convinced by Peter Odemwingie as a winger and he was virtually anonymous in this match. It only works if he plays more as an inside forward, cutting inside and using his pace to set up a shot or a killer pass. He was too far back most of the time to play to his skills. I could however see him working very well in an orthodox 4-4-2 with Long/Lukaku, and there were some signs towards the end of last season that a Long-PO partnership could work, despite many false starts over the season.

Lukaku should not have been brought off, just as Long shouldn't have been brought off last week. He still had stacks of energy and the Newcastle defence were visibly terrified whenever he had the ball. The goal raised his confidence after his two misses, neither of which were as easy as they looked. He's still raw, has lots to learn and sometimes has an awful first touch, but when he's playing well he's what defenders most fear - a striker running at them with pace and power. If he'd stayed on I think he had another goal in him!

Steve Clarke: We know that you want to keep all our talented strikers happy. But being a football manager means making the tough choices and some of these are fast approaching!