Newcastle execute game plan perfectly to see off Chelsea

Newcastle provided the best possible response to last weekend’s disappointing loss to Sunderland, bouncing back to defeat Chelsea 2-0 in the lunchtime kick off. Yoan Gouffran and Loic Remy scored the goals that gave Alan Pardew’s side a shock win over Jose Mourinho’s title contenders. The Magpies frustrated Chelsea by sitting deep for much of the game, and their resilient defensive effort combined with two well taken finishes to give Newcastle the three points.

Key stats

Newcastle won the game despite having less possession than their opponents. Whilst Chelsea had 55% of the ball, they did very little with it, and Newcastle managed to post four times as many shots on target in spite of the possession deficiency.

Chelsea created little with their possession, and were wasteful when they did create. Whilst Newcastle hit the target with eight of their 11 shots, Chelsea only tested Tim Krul with two shots from seven.

Man of the Match:

Despite leading a defence that conceded two goals, John Terry is the Squawka man of the match. Tidier in possession than he is often given credit for, Terry achieved a pass accuracy score of 93%. Shown below, this means that he misplaced only five of his 73 passes. The Chelsea captain was particularly impressive in possession in the first half, completing all 42 of his passes.

He made four tackles and 11 clearances for his side, and was unlucky to see a first half headed effort come crashing back off of the crossbar.

Performance Score

Chelsea were leading Newcastle by performance score for most of the game, only falling behind in the 70th minute. This was namely due to their superior possession, but they failed to do much with it and were subsequently punished by two clinical goals. Rarely troubled once they went ahead, Newcastle closed the game out with relative ease and added a second late on.

Key Observations

Much of Newcastle’s success came from successfully stifling Chelsea’s attacking threat. Over the entire game Newcastle only made four tackles, as they backed off and defended deep. They made 54 clearances over the course of the game, shown on the map below.

Their action areas map also shows the extent to which Newcastle defended; having more of the ball in their own box than the opposition’s and touching the ball most frequently in the area just outside their own box.

However when Newcastle got the ball, they broke quickly. The diagram below shows the number of long balls played by the Magpies, as they quickly shifted the ball from back to front, and includes a number of chance creating key passes (shown in yellow).

Their directness meant that Newcastle were able to create more chances than Chelsea, despite having less of the ball and sitting deep. The goal attempts map below shows the extent to which Newcastle peppered the Chelsea goal. It is also worth noting that Chelsea had a large number of shots blocked, another stat caused by the deepness of the Newcastle defence.