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Season 2024-25
Stade Brestois 29 (France) (h) Friendly

Date: Saturday 10th August 2024, 4pm
Live on NUFC TV

Venue: St. James' Park

Conditions: Sedate

Admission: Ł20 & Ł25 adults (no weekend ticket)

Programme: Ł3.50 covering both days

Newcastle		Brest
	1 - 0
Half time:	1 - 0

Score Sheet:
(15) Barnes

	Teams
Dubravka Trippier Schar Kelly Lewis Al.Harrison Guimaraes Willock Almiron Osula Barnes		Bizot Lala Chardonnet Le Cardinal Amavi Periera Lage Martin Magnetti Camara Le Douaron Del Castillo

Substitutes:
(46) Vlachodimos for Dubravka (46) Sanusi for Harrison (68) Hernes for Osula (68) Ashby for Trippier (82) Stanton for Schar (88) Munda for Willock		Zogbe for Lala (72) Mbock for Martin (72) Camblan for Magnetti (72) Ndiaye for Le Cardinal (83) Dari for Chardonnet (83) Kante for Le Douaron (88)

Subs not used:
Gillespie Emerson Heffernan Shahar		Coudert Ajorque Lees-Melou

Bookings:
None		None
Dismissals:
None		None

Referee: Tony Harrington (Hartlepool).

Attendance: 33,760 - 1,802 more than were present for the previous evening's victory over Girona, with no home fans in the upper tiers again. Concerns over possible disturbances in the city centre earlier in the looked to have deterred some supporters from attending with youngsters, but good-natured demonstrations didn't spill over into any violent scenes and the large police presence had little to do. The decision to close Monument Metro from the start of service meanwhile was reversed by 2pm. Around 30 fans were in attendance supporting the visitors and were accommodated in Level 7.

Goals

15 mins Harvey Barnes shot at the Leazes End. 1-0

Half time: NUFC 1 Brest 0

Full time: NUFC 1 Brest 0

We Said

Eddie Howe said:

"A really tough game today. We weren't quite at full speed and a lot of players needed the game because they haven't had the minutes. We looked a bit rusty and slightly off, technically and tactically."

On William Osula:

"I loved the goal - the pace, the run, the finish. He didn't know he was offside and I'm still not sure he was.

"He hadn't trained a great deal because he'd had concussion so there was some rustiness. You can see why we brought him to the club."

On Trevan Sanusi:

"I think he's got bits to learn, of course, for someone his age. Tactically he's got things to improve. We've got to build him up physically to protect him and to make sure he's robust enough to deal with the rigours of the Premier League."

On Jamal Lewis:

"While he's still here we'll treat him with the respect he definitely deserves from how he's conducted himself.

"He's had a good pre-season but there is a chance he could end up leaving. We'll work with him to find the solution he wants for his career."

On transfers:

"Difficult to say exactly what's going to happen. These things aren't exactly in my hands and I'm not really dealing with them, now we have other people in place to take control of those situations, allowing me to focus on coaching the team.

"They have to make sense, whether that's a positional need or something becomes available in the market that we really like.

"Of course, you're looking to strengthen the group and improve the first team."

They Said

Eric Roy - who wasn't booed by home fans despite having the mackems on his CV* -said:

to follow

* the French-born midfielder didn't face us during his 34 game stint on wearside between 1999 and 2001, but was an unused substitute for Newcastle's maiden PL visit to the stadium of plight (a 2-2 draw in February 2000).

Stats

Six* pre-season games played. Five won, one lost. 14 goals scored, four conceded:

NUFC pre-season 2024/25:

Unterhaching (a) won 3-1
Hull City (a) won 2-0
Urawa (a) won 4-1
Yokohama (n) lost 0-2
Girona (h) won 4-0
Brest (h) won 1-0

* not including the unrecorded training ground meeting with Burnley (a 2-3 loss allegedly).

Pre-season scorers:

J.Murphy 5
Isak 3
Barnes 2
Longstaff 2
Gordon 1
Hall 1

Pre-season pitch time (in minutes):

37 players were utilised in pre-season, one less than the 2023/24 total:

Hall 45+85+90+64+90+0=374 +1 goal
Krafth 45+90+90+45+90+0=360
Joelinton 45+64+90+64+90+0=355
Burn 45+90+79+45+89+0=348
J.Murphy 45+74+70+45+90+0=324 +5 goals
Barnes 45+64+79+45+0+90=323 +2 goals
Isak 45+64+61+45+89+0=304 +3 goals
Pope 45+74+61+45+76+0=301
Longstaff 45+0+45+90+90+0=270 +2 goals
Livramento 0+64+70+45+90+0=269
Lewis 45+74+0+26+0+90=235
J.Miley 45+79+45+0+63+0=232
Almiron 0+0+45+90+0+90=225
Sanusi 45+26+11+43+45+45=215
Vlachodimos 45+16+29+45+0+45=180
Parkinson 45+26+29+45+27+0=172
Al.Harrison 45+26+20+26+0+45=162
Guimaraes 0+0+0+45+0+90=135
Kelly 0+0+0+45+0+90=135
Willock 0+0+45+0+0+88=133
Schar 0+0+0+45+0+82=127
Turner-Cooke 45+26+20+2+0+0=93
Osula 68=68
Trippier 0+0+0+0+0+68=68
Ashby 0+0+0+45+0+22=67
Stanton 45+11+0+0+1+8=65
Emerson 45+16+0+0+0+0=61
Heffernan 45+0+11+0+0+0=56
Dubravka 0+0+0+0+0+45=45
Gordon 0+0+0+0+45+0=45 +1 goal
Kuol 45+0+0+0+0+0=45
Shahar 45+0+0+0+0+0=45
White 45+0+0+0+0+0=45
Hernes 0+0+0+0+1+22=23
Munda 0+16+0+0+0+2=18
Ruddy 0+0+0+0+14+0=14
Charlton 0+5+0+0+0+0=5
C.Thompson 0+0+0+0+0+0=0

Sven Botman, Ryan Fraser, Isaac Hayden, Jamaal Lascelles, Lewis Miley, Alex Murphy, Sandro Tonali and Callum Wilson all failed to kick a ball or be named as a substitute during United's six official pre-season fixtures. Ciaran Thompson (1) appeared on the bench in pre-season without playing.

There was a Magpies debut for striker William Osula, sporting the 18 squad number that had been vacant since the close season departure of goalkeeper Lorius Karius.

French sides @ SJP - PL era:

2024/25 Brest won 1-0 (FR)
2023/24 Paris SG won 4-1 (CL)
2019/20 St. Etienne won 2-1 (FR)
2012/13 Bordeaux won 3-0 (EL)
2003/04 Marseille drew 0-0 (UE)
2001/02 Troyes drew 4-4 (IT)
1996/97 AS Monaco lost 0-1 (UE)
1996/97 Metz won 2-0 (UE)

Waffle

Newcastle's second home win in as many days saw them retain the Sela Cup on Saturday; a revised format making the meeting with Brest a winner-takes-all tie.

Eddie Howe's side just about deserved the silverware that came their way thanks to a well-struck effort from Harvey Barnes - the visitors with more sight of goal overall but unable to convert any.

Clad in their white third kit and with a different XI to that which had overwhelmed Girona on Friday, United again got off to a positive start and led after 15 minutes.

Lloyd Kelly's perceptive ball down the left found Barnes and he cut in on to his right foot before burying a low effort into the far corner of the Leazes goal.

Leading the line on his debut, new arrival William Osula swept the ball home in the 23rd minute but had strayed offside when latching on to a fine ball from Barnes.

That was Osula's best moment but he did show a willingness to hold the ball up that bore comparison to a certain Swede - raw material certainly, but with physical attributes we're incapable of sourcing from within.

Making his first senior start meanwhile, 18 year-old Alfie Harrison's impact was minimal; aibeit from a deeper midfield role than he's occupied so far at U21 level.

The visitors had several near misses as they sought to go in level at the break; Martin Dubravka defying Jonas Martin and Jordan Amavi while an effort Pereira Lage fell narrowly off target.

Action after the break was minimal with nothing of note from Newcastle in an attacking sense, the absence of Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon profound.

Trevan Sanusi meanwhile was unable to prompt anything when as he was afforded some pitch time for the second day running - the only player who did so for more than a few seconds.

There were more valuable minutes in the legs as United's public pre-season programme concluded successfully, especially Joe Willock whose 88 minute contribution was his longest outing of 2024.

One last-ditch clearance left Fabian Schar limping and he played on for a time before hobbling off, but Howe seemed unconcerned by that when speaking post-match.

Multiple changes for the French failed to inspire an equaliser that would have taken the contest to penalties; Kieran Trippier collecting the trophy from club CEO Darren Eales and lifting it in unison with Bruno Guimaraes.

That followed the presentation of the inaugural Women's Cup to Newcastle United Women, who shared four goals with their AC Milan counterparts earlier in the day before triumphing 4-3 in the shootout.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Friday's foes Girona lost 2-3 at Bournemouth while next Saturday's opponents Southampton drew 0-0 with Getafe. Sunday then saw a Crystal Palace side including Magpie transfer target Marc Guehi held 1-1 at Selhurst by Nantes.

It's fair to say that the close season hasn't brought the anticipated volume of arrivals and departures on Barrack Road; exits for Elliot Anderson, Yankuba Minteh and Amanda Staveley unforeseen while a host of more familiar faces remain on the payroll at the time of writing.

Much remains unresolved in squad terms, but barring any late developments, Howe looks have kept hold of his crown jewels Isak, Bruno and Gordon with Tonali closing in on his return after wasting a year of his and our time.

Our simplistic view of more players available for less games being a good thing remains; although having it confirmed by a Manchester City player that our final European hopes were dashed due to their collective hangover in the FA Cup Final still sticks in the throat. Our fault for relying on them.

News that the FA are kicking the England coaching can down the road by putting Lee Carsley in temporary charge meanwhile leaves the possibility that Howe could have his cake and eat it - and retain an escape route if his side are underachieving once the dark nights are here.

A small dig contained in his post-match quotes today about others doing the dealing suggests that there may be a truce between the various club personalities, but no armistice.

Biffa

A winning start to his Newcastle-supporting career for five
year-old fan Tommy Forster - a lifetime of misery awaits...

Page last updated 25 October, 2024