adminNewcastle United suffered a miserable afternoon at Elland Road as Leeds United produced a dominant performance to hand the Magpies their first Premier League defeat of the season, winning 4-1.
Matthias Jaissle’s side endured a disastrous first half and went into the interval 3-0 down. Lewis Miley’s own goal opened the scoring before Jayden Bogle and Dominic Calvert-Lewin struck to put Leeds firmly in control.
Noah Okafor then added a fourth shortly after the restart, leaving Newcastle with a mountain to climb. Substitute Bazoumana Toure managed to provide a late consolation in the 90th minute, scoring his second goal in as many matches for the Magpies.
Jaissle made three changes to the team that defeated Millwall 1-0 in the Carabao Cup the previous week, handing £51million summer signing Matias Fernandez-Pardo his first full start.
Fernandez-Pardo replaced Joe Willock in attack, while Malick Thiaw returned to the defence and was handed the captain’s armband in place of Fabian Schar. Jacob Ramsey also dropped out of the starting XI, with Lewis Miley coming into midfield.
Amar Dedic was declared fit despite suffering a hamstring concern during the Carabao Cup victory at The Den. However, Newcastle were missing Anthony Elanga, who was ruled out through injury.
The Magpies suffered another setback during the first half when Nico Gonzalez was forced off after taking a blow to the head. Sean Steur was introduced as his replacement.
Unfortunately for Newcastle, Steur was involved in two of Leeds’ goals in quick succession.
Ao Tanaka’s effort took a deflection off Steur and Miley before beating Lukas Hornicek in the Newcastle goal. Just two minutes later, Steur’s attempted pass was intercepted and eventually allowed Leeds to work the ball out to the right, where Dominic Calvert-Lewin rose to head home.
Leeds continued to dominate and struck again just before half-time. Jacob Murphy was beaten by Tarik Muharemovic, with the ball eventually reaching Calvert-Lewin. The striker got the better of Sven Botman before calmly finding the bottom-right corner to make it 3-0.
Jaissle reacted by making a triple change in the 58th minute, introducing Bazoumana Toure, Joe Willock and Tino Livramento for Murphy, Fernandez-Pardo and Dedic.
However, Newcastle’s misery continued almost immediately.
Just a minute later, Noah Okafor found the net to make it 4-0 and effectively put the contest beyond Newcastle.
Toure eventually gave the travelling supporters something to celebrate when he scored in the 90th minute, but it was little more than a consolation as Leeds comfortably secured all three points.
Newcastle United Player Ratings
Lukas Hornicek — 5.5/10
One of Newcastle’s better performers despite conceding four goals. The Czech goalkeeper made several important saves and could have been facing an even heavier defeat had it not been for his efforts.
Amar Dedic — 4/10
Given the green light to play despite his recent hamstring problem, but the decision did little to benefit Newcastle. He struggled badly on the right side as Leeds repeatedly exploited the space around him.
Malick Thiaw — 4/10
Returned to the starting XI and was given the captaincy, but his leadership was badly tested. Neither Thiaw nor Botman could deal with Calvert-Lewin, who dominated Newcastle’s defence aerially.
Sven Botman — 3.5/10
A difficult afternoon for the Dutch defender. He was badly beaten by Calvert-Lewin for Leeds’ third goal and looked uncomfortable throughout. His distribution was also poor, while a headed clearance eventually fell perfectly for Okafor to score Leeds’ fourth.
The overall performance represented a major setback for Jaissle, with Newcastle now needing an immediate response after being comprehensively outplayed at Elland Road.
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