3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3 | OneFootball

Sunday afternoon’s match ended Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3.

Ahead of each game we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the game.

An interesting afternoon at St James’ Park…

Plenty to talk about after this one.

On this occasion it is David Punton:

POSITIVES

Eurovision

It was a massive result against a Forest side flying this season.

They’ve been brilliant – and we’ve now taken six points off them.

In the battle for European football this felt like a huge game, pretty much a must win if we wanted to stay in the hunt.

Howe has now overseen 13 wins from the last 16 games and all despite no new signings in January.

It’s pretty good going.

Blistering United

The 11 minute spell where we took Nottingham Forest to pieces is the Newcastle we all know this team can be.

It was a breathtaking passage of play that sealed the game.

We’ve come to life and hammered four goals to leave the visitors shell shocked.

If we’re to have any chance in the League Cup final on March 16 then this is the standard we need to see.

It was brilliant football and stuck it to the away end, who maybe thought they were going to win up here again for a second season running after grabbing an early lead.

Standout performances

It was good to see some lesser talked about players have excellent games.

Lewis Hall really caught the eye at left-back today. That’s the level he needs to strive for.

Hall was man of the match by a long way. He had the most touches, the most tackles won, the most crosses, the joint most duels won, joint most chances created.

Willock was back to his best, too. That could be really significant for the huge games we’ve still got to come.

Isak added to his already burgeoning reputation with two more goals, one of them an impudent spot-kick that left Sels in the Forest goal a tad red faced.

That’s 50 Premier League goals for the Swede – putting him in esteemed company.

For me, he’s our most important player.

NEGATIVES

Game of two halves

The biggest problem was the drop off after the half time cuppa.

It was bewildering to see us do that. I can only assume we were so good in the first half we were out of gas, or just rancidly complacent, allied to Forest giving it a right good go.

It would have been criminal had we have ended up at 4-4, or worse 4-5, from a 4-1 lead.

We sailed it close to dropping two huge points and game management is something that needs to be addressed.

It took the gloss off what should have been a comfortable win. We were a tad fortunate the referee only added three minutes on.

Defensive woes

For all that Lewis Hall was class, his colleagues at the centre of defence gifted Forest their goals.

These defensive errors are what troubles me ahead of the cup final.

Sour Nuno

It was poor to see the Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo seemingly refuse to shake hands with Eddie Howe at full time.

TV footage showed him just wander out onto the pitch without a greeting his opposite number.

Not very sporting behaviour is it.

Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3 – Sunday 23 February 2025 2pm

(Stats via BBC Sport)

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Miley 23, Murphy 25, Isak 33 pen, 34

Forest:

Hudson-Odoi 6, Milenkovic 63, Yates 90

Possession was Newcastle 57% Forest 43%

Total shots were Newcastle 13 Forest 17

Shots on target were Newcastle 5 Forest 5

Corners were Newcastle 7 Forest 6

Touches in the box Newcastle 34 Forest 26

(Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3 – Match ratings and comments on all Newcastle United players – Read HERE)

(Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction – Read HERE)

(We love our 4-3s! Newcastle 4 Nottingham Forest 3 – Read HERE)

Newcastle team v Forest:

Pope, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Bruno, Miley, Willock (Tonali 70), Gordon, Isak (Wilson 87), Murphy (Barnes 70)

Subs:

Dubravka, Longstaff, Krafth, Targett, Osula, Trippier

Newcastle United upcoming matches:

Wednesday 26 February – Liverpool v Newcastle (8.15pm) TNT Sports

Sunday 1 March –  Newcastle v Brighton (1.45pm) FA Cup fifth round – ITV1