They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Well nine points from nine with just the one goal conceded and a plus five goal difference has certainly led to some so-called experts re-evaluating their opinion on Newcastle United.
If the titters from the media were barely audible when ten Newcastle players trudged off after a disappointing yet understandable 0-2 reverse at home to Tottenham Hotspur then the open ridicule that followed our loss away at Huddersfield was loud, proud and unabashed.
We’d been found out they said and Benitez would leave on the first train to London for the bright lights of West Ham United. The ‘championship’ squad would be relegated before the January transfer window and even if we were barely hanging on to our premiership status, we’d need £150 million investment just to survive.The fans were also a huge problem we were told as that nasty Toon Army were on brink of meltdown and were bound to hound out the glorious saviour Mike Ashley due to apparent demands of a champions league place at the end of each and every season!
The next two games saw all and sundry lining up to slate us, West Ham were guaranteed to gain their first win of the season at St James’. A point would be a good return for Newcastle and of course those fans would get on the player’s backs should they not be ahead within the first five minutes! What we saw however was a fantastic team performance backed by over 50,000 fans. Merino being man of the match in the face of stiff competition from Christian Atsu, Matt Ritchie and Ciaran Clark. Three superb goals without reply was obviously too much to bear for anyone south of Tyneside however as this was then cited as a catalyst for West Ham appointing Rafa at our expense. Trial by camera also followed resulting in Mitro being given a retrospective three match ban despite the referee clearly indicating he saw the incident as it happened and deemed it accidental at the time.
If this was bad then the reaction to our first away win of the season was simply staggering.The week began with Paul Merson claiming Swansea would show their ‘premiership class’ whilst cruising to victory, the outcome however was somewhat different. Here we had a match where Newcastle and Swansea shared an even first 20 mins at the Liberty stadium before Newcastle increased the pressure and were only denied the opening goal due to a truly world class save. The second half saw a captain’s performance in every sense from Jamaal Lascelles culminating in a goal-line clearance and superb set piece goal. His header gave us possibly our most satisfying away victory since Brighton were put to the sword courtesy of Ayoze Perez seven months previously. All rosy in the garden it seems? Well no actually, regardless of the performance and the deserved victory, we were subjected to endless hours of analysis of a Richie foul and a non existent Lascelles handball. The foul was identical to one we were on the receiving end of away at Huddersfield (never to be mentioned again) and the handball didn’t exist - I’ve seen all the evidence and I’m about as convinced as I am about the Loch Ness monster and little green men wandering around Roswell! The Swansea match saw a good team performance and fantastic result made all the more impressive by the absence of our manager through illness.
By the time we’d entertained and outclassed Stoke at the fortress, we’d played against five teams who were nothing but bang average at best with not one of them playing any better than Championship huffers Nottingham Forest in the league cup. In fact it was Forest who came to St James’ with something approaching an attacking game plan and were actually good value for a 3-2 win after extra time. Compare this to a Stoke City side who were more than happy to roll over and allow us to fill our boots should we be so inclined. With Joselu wasting three excellent chances and there being a number of near misses from his teammates, a fairer reflection of our dominance would have been four or five rather than the two that proved to be enough. Our five premiership opponents so far represent a nice cross section of premier league ambitions (Huddersfield hoping to avoid relegation, Spurs looking to win the thing and the others somewhere in between) and not one has been remotely close to putting in an impressive full ninety minutes.
When I was first asked to write this piece, I was advised to give an early opinion on life in the premiership so far. Quite frankly, it's almost identical to how I felt about life in the championship exactly twelve months ago. I feel we have an above average squad that admittedly needs January investment, we are capable of beating any team in the division on our day, we’re prone to dropping silly points especially when conceding first and we’re in safe hands as long as we continue to be led by an inspirational manager who is one of the very best in Europe. This is all despite the sinister agender of an owner who will never share the ethos, ambitions and hopes of the fans.
I've also been asked to articulate what has impressed me so far, to be honest very little. The premiership is without doubt the most marketable league in the world but apart from the revenue streams. It isn’t actually that good. Why do you think the Mackems stayed up by the skin of their teeth for season after season? Because people all over the planet are paying good money to see a load of cloggers play out 0-0 draws and late 1-0 wins in end-of-season encounters that even the staunchest insomniac could sleep through. During our last relegation season when we had an appalling team, we still did the double over Spurs, were unbeaten against both Man Utd and Liverpool and drew with fourth placed Manchester City. All of this took place in a campaign where we lost ten games more than we won and yet were still only a single victory away from actually staying up! Perhaps the most impressive thing about the season so far has happened off the pitch. The superb efforts of ‘NUFC Food bank’ in helping vulnerable people on Tyneside is something we can all be proud of. Please contribute to their cause the next time you pass them before roaring on the lads, all their details are on twitter, facebook and various social media, the difference they so selflessly make to to our community is something that should always put the football result into sharp perspective. Happy new season!