Bruno Guimarães Delivers Knockout Performance as Newcastle Silence Critics with Statement Win
Every aim is not made equal. There are goals that are larger than others. Occasionally, there is one that simply seems to be heavy, one that has the power to change the trajectory of entire seasons.
The goal that Bruno Guimaraes scored for Newcastle against Fulham in the final seconds felt like such a goal. Without it, we would begin to question Newcastle’s specific capabilities for this season.
The most evident issue that now separates them from the top is their failure to generate clear opportunities and defeat mid-table opponents at home. Up until that point, the game followed a typical plot.
Trending
We are aware of their strong defence. They have more than that in their midfield. We are still not sure that they attacked.
While a single objective cannot alter that, it can alter the discourse. Particularly considering how ridiculously crowded the Premier League standings is right now.
If it weren’t for that late winner and a match full of well-known annoyances, Newcastle would be sitting on 10 points and uncomfortably near the bottom three.
They are now within striking distance of the top four, but they are still five points behind Sunderland in second place because it seems like football has lost its entire flow this season.
Newcastle had switched their entire front three in an attempt to force a result by the time Bruno Guimaraes slotted home the valuable winner after William Osula’s daring run and parried shot. Something that didn’t seem likely in reality.
The home crowd found it extremely frustrating to watch when Jacob Murphy skilfully gave Newcastle the lead within the opening 20 minutes by running unhindered through the wide gaps where a Fulham defender should have been.
Although Newcastle won’t especially like the game, the outcome might have significant implications.
It goes without saying that the opposite is also true. After a strong second half performance, Fulham felt the sting of that goal.
Despite Murphy and Osula’s quick and decisive play, Marco Silva will regret the mistakes at the core of both goals. They took advantage of mistakes that are unacceptable at this level.
And it was because of such errors that Fulham’s promising performance turned into their fourth consecutive loss.
If tomorrow’s games don’t go the way they now want them to, they are the ones who are now uncomfortable watching over their shoulders, fearing worse.
At the moment, Fulham seems like the quintessential Too Good To Go Down squad. When discussing this one on Match of the Day, Mark Lawrenson used to sarcastically say, “They’ll be fine,” as if the issue had been resolved.
However, the issue with any team being too good to fail or being promised that they will be fine is that it only becomes important to take note when the team actually fails; in fact, being fine has started to be taken into consideration.
It is hated because, by its sheer presence, it indicates that things are already going wrong; it’s similar to a vote of confidence.
The fact that this is definitely not the time to be experiencing a minor setback is also becoming more and more evident.
You can’t just plod along at a point a game believing that will be plenty when the three promoted teams are all having trouble breaking thirty, unlike the previous two seasons.
At this moment, Fulham is trailing by less than one point per game. All of these losses are not particularly concerning on their own. The issue is that they all arrived in a hurry.
They have two important games against Wolves and Everton coming up, which will decide how anxiously the Cottagers will spend the upcoming break, which is already ridiculously near.
In contrast, Newcastle can now turn their attention to their own games before that break and anticipate making major strides in defending the Carabao, advancing in the Champions League and moving up the table in their matches against Brentford and West Ham.
