Nottingham Forest have been fishing in the waters Newcastle aspire to swim in. This season, Nuno Espírito Santo’s team are the provincial outfit punching above their weight but in taking them down at the City Ground, Newcastle, now just a point behind Forest, showed they too possess the capability to join the throng.
A second-half comeback, courtesy of three lovely finishes, the first a piece of striking opportunism from Alexander Isak, the second an arrowing, long-range beauty from Joelinton, showed a full stomach for the fight. The third, scored by late substitute Harvey Barnes, cutting inside after an assist by an equally influential replacement in Sandro Tonali, sent Forest fans barrelling home.
As the Premier League’s highest rollers struggle to assert their usual dominance, there are marked similarities between these pretenders. Evangelos Marinakis, Forest’s owner, is a nation state in himself, just as ambitious – and ruthless – as any autocratic ruler. His manager, Nuno, quiet, diplomatic, has a steely resolve not far removed from Eddie Howe’s. Some of the personnel are familiar, too. Chris Wood was a Newcastle player appreciated for his efforts when relegation was feared. This season has shown his former employers his use in the higher echelons.
And in the manner of victory, there was plenty of Forest in Newcastle. “We have been punished in the way we have punished other teams,” said Nuno, of a decisive second-half counterattacking masterclass. “They have quality and were lethal.”
For the first 45 minutes, Newcastle had struggled for Forest’s measure, unable to land a blow when Howe’s team are not exactly lacking in muscle or aggression.
On the sidelines, Jason Tindall, Howe’s right-hand-man-cum-minder, was doing Jason Tindall things to add further fuel. The referee, Anthony Taylor, decidedly unpopular in Nottingham, was meanwhile barracked from early on. It made for a heady first-half brew and a crackling atmosphere.
Nuno’s speedsters opted for the counter as their weapon of choice, as well as the set-piece delivery that supplied their goal. From Anthony Elanga’s free-kick, as Chris Wood made a dummy run, in stole Murillo to clatter home a header for his first professional goal. The Brazilian, called up by his country for the first time last week, is one of several Forest players pointing to what seemed scattergun recruitment actually delivering quality personnel, even before Edu arrives from Arsenal – as is expected. Next, Matz Sels, another former Newcastle player, from Championship days, made a fine save from Bruno Guimarães as Newcastle sought swift redress.
“They are a difficult team to play against because they don’t concede many chances and you’re left fearing the worst when you go behind,” said Howe but with Anthony Gordon switched to the left and Joelinton moved right, Newcastle began their second half with renewed fire. “The second half was up there with our best performances this season,” their manager added.
Forest’s defenders – and Sels – were forced into increasingly last-ditch stuff. Forest retained danger on the counter but after Nicolás Domínguez was sent through on the halfway line, only for Nick Pope to save, they surrendered their control of the game. Domínguez had galloped back to defend Newcastle’s next attack but after a corner was forced, Wood’s stooped head supplied an inadvertent assist for Isak to stab home the equaliser.
That brought Nuno’s first changes, Elliot Anderson applauded on by both sets of fans, with Jota Silva’s darting energy accompanying him. Anderson is the player Howe did not want to lose, but became a patsy in the profit and sustainability wrangles both clubs became involved in over the summer. The boy from Whitley Bay had begun his afternoon on the bench as Morgan Gibbs-White assumed Forest’s playmaking duties.
Like most of his colleagues, Gibbs-White’s effectiveness dwindled as the Nottingham air began to fill with the invective of their fans. Taylor further reduced his popularity when booking Nuno’s assistant Rui Barbosa for complaining Dan Burn deserved a second yellow for felling Jota.
That anxious atmosphere was soon asked to embrace defeat. Isak, after Gordon had sent away Joe Willock, fired a volley just wide, Newcastle by now the more dangerous on the counter.
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Their deserved lead arrived when Elanga lost the ball upfield. Tonali, on for Willock, sent away Isak whose pass allowed Joelinton time to switch on to his left foot for a shot that seared into the net. “A beast, a machine,” Howe said of the goalscorer. “He’s the player who commits whatever he’s asked to do.”
It was left to Barnes – “trying to find room for him in the team is something that I am conscious of,” said Howe – to complete a salvage operation performed with high precision, Tonali at its heart again.
If Forest’s ambitions appeared punctured as Newcastle’s were lifted, Nuno tried his level best to avert a vibe shift. “All of us should be proud of the way we have been working together,” he said. “Let’s go again …”
