Eyebrows were raised when Newcastle United paid Burnley £25m for Chris Wood in January. The consensus was that, in triggering the New Zealand striker’s release clause, Eddie Howe had overpaid – but it seemed money very well spent here.
Granted, Wood has hardly been prolific, yet his second-half penalty lifted Eddie Howe’s side to the heady heights of 14th, virtually extinguishing Tyneside’s relegation fears.
Perhaps even more encouragingly from Howe’s viewpoint was Bruno Guimarães – whose arrival from Lyon three months ago cost nearly £40m – excelling in midfield as Wolves exhibited a perplexing, and deeply disappointing, lack of ambition. They remain on the margin separating European qualification from mid-table but, on this unconvincing evidence, not too many Black Country passports will need dusting down next season.
Admittedly Wolves improved considerably after the break with Martin Dubravka saving well to deny Fábio Silva following Marçal’s cross but their manager was in no mood for excuses. “We missed a big chance to win ,” said Lage. “We controlled most of Newcastle’s movement and were much better in the second half but we didn’t create many chances. We should have been more aggressive, especially in the final third.”
Howe was appreciably happier. “I’m very, very pleased,” he said. “It feels like a big win. There’s still work to do but it’s a massive step forward. Wolves are so difficult to break down it was always going to be a game of few chances. I thought Bruno showed real intelligence and strength in a difficult game. He’s got no fear and he’s adapted to the speed of the Premier League really well.”
If the absence of arguably the visitors’ brightest sparks – the suspended Raúl Jiménez and the injured Rúben Neves – offered locals cause for cautious optimism, Howe was suitably wary. It was not just that his side needed to arrest a run of three straight defeats but that their 5-1 thrashing at Tottenham last Sunday had been alarmingly comprehensive.
Presumably fearing a backlash, Wolves were on a mission to draw the sting from Newcastle’s early attacking impetus and, slowing the tempo at every opportunity, they succeeded in frustrating both their hosts and another full house at St James’ Park.
It left both goalkeepers under-occupied amid a surfeit of sideways and backwards passing. Admittedly odd impressive cameos from Guimarães raised the tone while Jonjo Shelvey’s glorious chipped pass to Allan Saint-Maximin lingered in the memory but these were exceptions to the general rule.
The crowd’s mounting anxiety lifted briefly when Miguel Almirón’s wonderfully audacious back heel prefaced Guimarães’s cross rebounding off a defender and Wood overcoming the fact that he was down on the ground in the penalty area by extending a leg and somehow hooking the ball into the net.
As Newcastle celebrated and Lage threatened to implode, a VAR review revealed Guimarães had been fractionally offside and the goal was disallowed. As the Wolves manager gradually calmed down the action reverted to revolving around a blend of mutually cheap concessions of possession and a series of increasingly desperate long balls on Newcastle’s part.
Indeed by half time the visitors’ determination to play a primarily horizontal game had served as a highly effective mute button, virtually silencing an initially raucous arena. It speaks volumes that when the first corner was finally awarded – to Wolves – in the 49th minute it felt like a big event. Typically it came to nothing.
At least Lage’s side were beginning to make a few expeditions out of their own half and, with Hwang Hee-Chang and João Moutinho waking up a little had even started sporadically venturing into Newcastle’s box. Yet when, in the fall out from a free kick, Moutinho conjured a fabulous volleyed cross no one could quite connect with it.
As Saint-Maximin – still feeling his way back to optimal fitness following illness and injury – lofted a half volley over the bar from a promising position the pessimism in the stands felt almost palpable but then Wood won that penalty. Played in by some fancy footwork on the part of Saint-Maximin and then Joelinton, the on-rushing striker cleverly left his foot in as he invited José Sá to trip him.
As the striker fell to earth and the referee, Peter Bankes, pointed to the penalty spot, Lage’s goalkeeper turned incandescent, punching thin air in fury. Once he calmed down – and a nerve shredding VAR review had eventually confirmed there had been no offside – Wood took the kick himself, striking it high into the net as Sá went the wrong way. It was his first goal at St James’ Park.
“There was a lot of responsibility on Chris’s shoulders,” said Howe. “He needs to score goals but he’s got broad shoulders and he can take responsibility.”
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