Alexander Isak hit a hat-trick and Jacob Murphy the other as Newcastle United beat the Blues 4-0 to inflict Town’s heaviest home defeat under Kieran McKenna. The Swedish international put the visitors in front in the opening 25 seconds, VAR overruling an offside against Murphy in the build-up, before the former England U21 international made in 2-0 on 32, then Isak added his second and Newcastle’s third in first-half injury time and completed his hat-trick nine minutes after the restart.

Aside from the return of Sammie Szmodics, who missed the 2-1 win at Wolves last week as he was ill, for suspended number nine Liam Delap, it was the same side which lined up at Molineux. On the bench, Jacob Greaves came in for Luke Woolfenden.

Newcastle also made one change from the team which beat Leicester 4-0 last week and Brentford 3-1 in the Carabao Cup, both at St James’ Park, with midfielder Joelinton suspended. Joe Willock started in the Brazilian’s place.

The visitors had the ball in the net inside the first 25 seconds via the game’s first attack Murphy was sent away down the right and the former Norwich man’s cross was cut out by Morsy but only as far as Isak, who slammed home as he broke into the area.

Assistant referee Natalie Aspinall immediately raised her flag with Murphy having appeared well offside.

However, after a lengthy VAR check for the offside and also a potential handball, it was ruled that Cameron Burgess had played Murphy onside and the goal - the Magpies’ fastest ever away in the Premier League - stood, much to the frustration of the Town players - who had clearly been anticipating a flag before it came - and the delight of the away fans in the Cobbold Stand.

Having got their noses in front and with rain now falling heavily, the Magpies put the Blues under further pressure, Sandro Tonali shooting not too far over from just outside the area in the 10th minute.

But Szmodics had already made some impact on the left, then on 12 Omari Hutchinson struck an effort against a defender on the edge of the box, before Leif Davis, born in Newcastle and Magpies fan growing up, sent the ball back in from the left and Lewis Hall and Conor Chaplin clashed heads.

Newcastle should have gone two in front in the 14th minute when Murphy, who had had free rein down the right in the opening minutes, stood up a cross towards the far post but Anthony Gordon headed down into the ground and over the bar. It was a fortunate escape for the Blues.

Town started to see more of the ball and in the 20th minute Jens Cajuste turned away from Tino Livramento and took it on into the left of the area before shooting not too far over.

Moments later, Chaplin cleverly played Szmodics in on goal but keeper Martin Dubravka was quickly off his line to block.

The Blues kept the visitors pinned in their half for the next few minutes but without threatening Dubravka’s goal further.

On 23, Newcastle broke away after Town had lost possession but Morsy threw himself in to block as Murphy looked to shoot having been fed by skipper Bruno Guimaraes.

With the rain now falling even more heavily, the Magpies had another big opportunity in the 25th minute, Murphy finding Isak on the left of the area but the Swedish international striker tamely lifted the ball into Aro Muric’s arms when he will feel he should have been celebrating his and his side’s second goal of the afternoon.

But seven minutes later, the visitors were two goals in front. Gordon was found on the left of the box and was forced inside as he looked for space to shoot. Having been unable to get in an effort himself, he moved it on to Murphy on the right of the area and the wideman slammed past Muric and into the net off the underside of the bar.

As the game approached the 35-minute mark, Chaplin underwent treatment and the rest of the Town team went to the sidelines for instruction from manager Kieran McKenna and his staff with the Northern Irishman having his work cut out to get his team back into the match at this stage.

In the 42nd minute, Newcastle again broke quickly having gained possession on halfway and Isak curled a shot towards Muric’s left corner but the keeper was able to get across to save and claim at the second attempt.

As the half moved into four additional minutes, Szmodics, who scored against Newcastle for Blackburn in the FA Cup last season, picked up a pass from Cajuste and broke into the area on the left but shot over.

Seconds later, it was 3-0, the Magpies profiting from Town making a mess of playing it out from the back. Morsy passed back to Muric, who played it forward to Cajuste, who was dispossessed around 10 yards from his own goal by Guimaraes, who fed Isak, who won’t have an easy opportunity to score in his career, beating Muric to his left.

There was still time for Newcastle to have another chance before the break, Gordon sliding in and diverting the ball wide at the left post from a looping cross.

At the whistle, there were muted boos after the Blues’ worst defensive half of the season so far against perhaps the sharpest attack.

The offside decision on the first goal looked very, very tight, indeed most anticipated the assistant’s flag being upheld by VAR. However, the ball really ought to have been cleared from there by Morsy.

Town had had a spell where they had kept possession and created a couple of chances at 1-0, they had never really looked like causing the visitors’ defence too many problems.

But Newcastle had looked like scoring every time they attacked and probably should have added to their goals before they scored their second, while the third was a gift.

With the game already lost barring a miracle, Town made a change ahead of the second half, Ali Al-Hamadi replacing Hutchinson, who had had a very quiet half, with Szmodics moving to the left having given the Newcastle centre-halves little trouble in the first period.

Five minutes after the restart, the Iraqi international briefly found himself played in in space on the right of the area but turned into traffic and eventually his shot was blocked.

Newcastle went close to a fourth in the 52nd minute, Hall crossing from the left and Guimaraes stooping to head but diverting the ball the wrong side of the post.

But two minutes later, it was 4-0 as Isak completed his first Magpies hat-trick. Newcastle built from the back before Burgess’s interception reached Murphy, who twisted and turned his way into the right of the box before deftly back-heeling a pass to Isak, who took a touch before stabbing into the corner of the net and celebrating with the away fans in the opposite corner.

The Magpies, who were in complete control, went looking for a fifth and on 57 Willock went round outside of Clarke on the left and into the area but shot over, requiring treatment having done so.

Town made a double change in the 62nd minute, Jack Taylor and Kalvin Phillips, making his first appearance since the Leicester game at the start of November, taking over from Chaplin and Cajuste.

A minute later, Gordon was found in space on the left, took the ball on but his shot was too close to Muric.

Town were next to threaten, Wes Burns taking the ball on on the right before hitting a cross-shot which flew beyond his teammates and past Dubrava’s post with the keeper unruffled.

Newcastle made a triple change in the 63rd minute, Sean Longstaff, Kieran Trippier and Harvey Barnes replacing Murphy, who despite Isak’s hat-trick had been the visitors’ outstanding player, Livramento and Willock.

On 65, there was further misery for the Blues with skipper Morsy picking up his fifth booking of the season for a shove in the back of Guimaraes, a challenge which didn’t look particularly worthy of a card in itself. Morsy, who had gone nine games without a yellow card, now misses the trip to Arsenal on Friday.

Sub Barnes volleyed well over following a corner on 67 as the Magpies continued to take the game to Town and look for further goals. On 73, Miguel Almiron took over from hat-trick hero Isak, who had taken his season’s tally to 11 and his Premier League total for 2024 to 23.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, with Blue Action keeping singing away in the corner of the Cobbold Stand, Al-Hamadi was booked for a frustrated foul on Guimaraes, another of the Magpies’ impressive performers.

Town switched Burns and Szmodics for Ben Johnson and Nathan Broadhead in the 78th minute, the Wales international forcing a save from Dubravka almost immediately, hitting a low shot to the keeper’s left that the Slovak international palmed away. Two minutes later, Guimaraes was swapped for Lewis Miley.

Newcastle played out the rest of the game in comfort, prodding and probing for a fifth but without the intensity of earlier in the match, while Broadhead added some direct running for the Blues but without creating an opportunity from which Town might have pulled a goal back.

In the third minute of injury time, Dan Burn tapped the ball home from close range having been found by Longstaff after the Blues had failed to clear a Barnes cut-back from the right. The assistant flagged and on this occasion VAR upheld the decision.

That was the last action of a game comprehensively won by the visitors with the result never really in question once VAR had overturned the offside in the build-up to the first goal.

A chastening afternoon for Town, who have only previously been beaten 4-0 under McKenna once, at Leeds a year ago on Monday. The Blues have been competitive in most of their games since promotion, but were never completely able to handle the pace of Murphy, Isak and Gordon whenever Newcastle regained possession and could have been more than three goals behind at the break.

The second half was the predictable period with a side already three-up at the break, the visitors, who are up to seventh, netting once more through Isak, while the Blues huffed and puffed but never showed any sign of getting back into the game.

Despite that, McKenna and his men were applauded by their support as they made their way round the pitch at the whistle.

Coincidentally, Isak’s hat-trick is the first by an opposition player since Kevin Nolan netted three in another 4-0 Newcastle victory over the Blues, then managed by Roy Keane, in September 2009.

Town, who remain 18th having missed a chance to climb out of the bottom three with Leicester hosting Wolves on Sunday, now have two more tough games before 2024 draws to a close, at Arsenal two days after Christmas and then Chelsea at Portman Road, where the Blues are now without a win in nine, on December 30th.

Town: Muric, H Clarke, O'Shea, Burgess, Davis, Cajuste (Phillips 62), Morsy (c), Burns, Chaplin (Taylor 62), Hutchinson (Al-Hamadi 46), Szmodics. Unused: Walton, Johnson, Townsend, Greaves, Broadhead, J Clarke.

Newcastle: Dubravka, Livramento (Trippier 63), Schar, Burn, Hall, Guimaraes (c) (Miley 80), Tonali, Willock (Barnes 63), Murphy (Longstaff 63), Isak (Almiron 72), Gordon. Unused: Vlachodimos, Targett, Osula, Kelly. Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire). VAR: John Brooks. Att: 29,774 (Newcastle: 2,991).

Photo: Matchday Images

GiveusaWave added 01:14 - Dec 23 @TimmyH Feel there are a few players that are out of depth at this level right now (though they may well be able to compete at this level in the future). Few players need to come in, and a few need to go out on-loan (ideally to the Championship). There are also a couple of players who need to sort out long term injuries (yet they are still playing). Jan transfer market will be interesting...can see Wolves spending a fortune trying to stay up. Will we do the same?

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Rimsy added 08:07 - Dec 23 The thing is, if we had stuck to last seasons team, you could more readily accept a poor championship like performance. Unfortunately we've spent 100m or so (just think about that number, we get very blasé very quickly with the sums involved). That's without the loan fees we're paying for. But it's not last seasons team, we've gone backwards and that's what's so disappointing. Who's to blame? No one really, the club feels it needs to invest to compete, unfortunately the majority of the signings haven't improved the team. Although it falls on McK's shoulders to change things up a bit, you can't keep playing the same way week in week out and expect a different outcome.

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mathiemagic added 09:24 - Dec 23 We like North London so the @rse will be a breeze !! :-)
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planetblue_2011 added 10:02 - Dec 23 I’m more worried about the next two games. If we lost 4-0 against Newcastle it could be double figures against Arsenal & Chelsea. McKenna needs to make changes not just the keeper but both full backs have to be looked at. They go too far forward & don’t track back with their markers. Delap will be back so that’s a positive. Morsy missing, so like to see Taylor get a start. Bring back Broadhead in front three, crazy he is still a bench player. He’s the best technical gifted player at the club.

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Facefacts added 14:30 - Dec 23 Ashley Williams on MoTD - one of the 'park the bus' brigade, even at home. Zero knowledge of us. The tactics won't change, they are here to stay - how else do we get a Leif Davis goal of the month contender for the Leicester home game. Broadhead 'crazy he is still a bench player' was injured early season and fell out with McKenna over not being allowed to leave on deadline day when we couldn't get the third striker, the Greek no. 9 who was fit but not interested, Ipswich who?, then Broja failing his medical, Chelsea stringing us right to the end of the window. Hopefully this is all over now and McK/Broady can get along again, with Broadhead starting some games from now on. Muric was a panic buy as we hadn't researched goalkeepers, thinking Hladky would stay. I still can't believe this happened, but we had to splash a lot of PL cash in a short time, the stadium needed 24/7 pushing, etc. Eye off ball. I hope it wasn't just a stand off, pride thing between Mark Ashton and Hladky's agent - we will probably never find out. Letting Walton run his big contract down and then extending it to get a fee for him - makes sense but he's had his chance at No. 1, so, unless we are going to give a near Scotland international Slicker a chance, we're stuck with Muric. I think Walton will run his contract down and go on a free to L1 or L2. I actually prefer Muric for Arsenal as they will put a lot of crosses and corners into our penalty box. So I would prefer him over Hladky even if he were still here, for this game. You can see that the Arsenal corners are coming in within the 6 yard box, which is the goalkeepers realm to come and claim. If he gets hampered, get into the referee's face to demand a free kick. We can make comment after comment on here, but we are not in full possession of all the facts, we only know what our interviewers can find out from the manager. They are scared to ask anything more intrusive, as the manager has a lot of credit in the bank at the club and they don't want to rock the boat. I suppose what I've learned since the start of the PL season is that £100 million does not buy enough quality - our policy of young players being bought for development doesn't fit either. Andros Townsend and Ross Barkley - older players - did well for Luton Town last season, but we would not be able to look at PL-experienced players due to our transfer policy of developing young players and selling them on. If you're in the bottom 3 the re-sale value of your developing players is destroyed anyway.

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RobsonWark added 18:59 - Dec 23 Anyone who says that they would prefer Muric in goal over Walton, for any match, has not been watching any of our games this season or any of the League 1 promotion season.
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Lukeybluey added 19:52 - Dec 23 Can I just say, the drummer at PR does an amazing job! unbelievable actually! ...however, us in the south stand get a bit quiet when most of the usual folks aren't there, its hard to get the crowd going, i think most are day tickets, so dampen the atmosphere, let us know if you need a drummer south stand? also, we should look to do more "collages" perhaps of Robson etc... something like they do in the Bundesliga.... more for blue action. PS, hope everyone has a good Christmas.... ps we should sign Anton Stach from Hoffenheim.

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