Intro
a few years ago, in 2014, I was fortunate enough to be taken on a school trip by an English teacher from our high school to watch a premier league clash between the title winners of that year- Chelsea, against Newcastle at their turf. The match ended 2-1 to Newcastle, this being the only time that ENTIRE season Chelsea being beaten in the Premier league competition. Now 5 years later, I’m going back to St. James with two friends of mine to watch their pre-season friendly against French team St. Etienne. I’m going to write about my expectations of what I’m going to see, and the experience of my return here.
What I’m expecting
Newcastle are opening this season with a lot of noise from their fans- not in a good way though. The unpopularity and grudge for Mike Ashley is shared amongst Newcastle fans and Rangers fans alike as he stamps his corporate greed dominance upon the two clubs, he’s viewed as a pantomime villain here.
A few new signings! Yes, the Geordies have opened the door to the 19/20 season signing a few new names. The likes of Joelinton (from Hoffenheim), Jetro Willems (Frankfurt), Allan Saint Maximin (Nice), have all been introduced to the fray, all of whom Steven Bruce hopes can bolster Newcastle’s team abilities and chances of staying up- seeing Newcastle being frequent favourites to be relegated this season.
I’m going to check out the atmosphere and the view of the stadium itself, hopefully throw in a few pictures here and there to throw on my Instagram, Facebook and of course, this article.
The experience
Before the game we went off to a pub for a few pre-match pints. We watched a little bit of Salford playing their first league 2 game opposing Stevenage, who lost 2-0 to Salford that day. The pub was only a convenient 5 min walk away from the stadium!
As I ventured through the dully lit tunnel, I was greeted by a loud, version of George Ezra’s “Budapest” playing onto the whole stadium. Stadium’s view, as always breathtaking. We sat much, much closer than where I sat that last time. We got a decent view of the match being played, the players’ warmup and other interesting things.
During the match I was also lucky enough to witness two debuts of new players being introduced in the second half, Jetro Willems and Allan Saint Maximin.
The Starting Lineups for the match-
Newcastle
Martin Dubravka
Javier Manquillo
Fabian Schar
Jamaal Lascelles
Federico Fernandez
Rolando Aarons
Isaac Hayden
Sean Longstaff
Jonjo Shelvey
Miguel Almiron
Joelinton (Goal 39’)
St Etienne
Stephane Ruffier
Mathieu Debuchy (Goal 85’)
Loic Perrin
William Saliba
Wesley Fofana
Yann M’vila
Mahdi Camara
Romain Hamouma
Denis Bouanga
Ryad Boudebouz
Robert Beric
The stadium wasn’t absolutely packed, a few empty patches here and there. I didn’t expect it to be as it’s only a friendly match. However it was still loud following the goals and challenges from the Newcastle players. I realized there was barely any away fans.
Now onto the game- Newcastle! They were seemingly the more attacking side, having their newly signed Brazilian striker Joelinton lead their attack, backed up by rapid Paraguayan Miggy Almiron behind him in the number 10 central attacking role. At first seemed reliant on counter attacks driven by the quick thinking South Americans that made up their attack- the second half consisted of Newcastle being the more laid back side having the urge to keep the ball and stress the French opposition out. Steve Bruce was extremely passionate about the whole thing, even I could hear some of his shouts over the rumbling crowd. Goals came from Joelinton in the first half which saw half time have a scoreline of 1-0. Matty Longstaff, brother of starting central mid later made an entrance to the fray scoring a sublime screamer from the edge of the box making it 2-0
“Les Verts” or St. Etienne, managed to climb up to the fourth spot last season in their respective Ligue 1 of French top flight football seeing them make a return to European competitions via Europa league qualification. Ghislain Printant took a more relaxed approach to the beginning of the game, looking to the centre back partnership of Saliba and club stalwart Loic Perrin to keep the ball in between them and looking to slice the Newcastle midfield up by passing forward. However the green-clad team favoured using the right wing to carry the ball into Newcastle’s half then switching the play however- no luck. St. Etienne later got a long awaited goal from former Newcastle full back Mathieu Debuchy after an accurate header beat Martin Dubravka. From what I have seen, Les Verts need to bag a prolific striker in this transfer window to put pressure on Robert Beric and the other strikers, as they failed to make any sort of big impact that game.
Players who stood out
Miguel Almiron
The fast central attacking midfielder really caught my eye- especially when he was on the ball. I’d describe him as a lightning fast playmaker with a good eye for open spaces to dash into and create opportunities for himself and his teammates. Still relatively young, the Paraguay international can definitely make a name for himself at St. James Park.
Alan Saint Maximin
Another speedster, hailing from OGC Nice and making his debut in the newly released orange clad kit. Bruce gave him his debut at around the 75 minute mark, seeing the man create a few good chances and runs into the St Etienne box, almost scoring twice! At 90 minutes he suffered an injury scare which didn’t look too bad thankfully.
Loic Perrin
An experienced man, and a St. Etienne legend. The central defender has stayed with Les Verts his entire career sealing him a special rank within the club. He’s not too far off from marking his 400th appearance for the team. During the game he made a few excellent tackles and was impressive on the ball, playing it forward and to the flanks very well
Steffane Ruffier
An experienced goalkeeper, who came to St. Etienne from Monaco a few years ago. Once courted by Manchester city, the France international is a major mainstay in the green clad team. He made some really good saves to deny Newcastle extending their lead, and played some good balls forward from the drop kick.
Conclusion and summary
Overall, I enjoyed my day out at St. James. How likely am I to come back? Very, I’m thinking of attending more than just friendlies and hopefully get lucky enough to be able to bag myself a premier league ticket in order to have the full experience and see the proper Geordie atmosphere. It was extremely interesting to see a football team from France play, as the prospect of watching different play styles and tactics interests me. It was a brilliant game with a fair amount of goals, and international stars on the stage. It’s a beautiful stadium and will have a spot in my heart as it is the first I’ve properly been to, and attended a match at. I’ll be back sometime soon I hope!