Newcastle United 2–1 Hull City: Unbeaten Run Ends with Tense Victory
St James’ Park has seen far more fluent Newcastle United performances than this. But on a tense afternoon on Tyneside, it saw something arguably more important: a response.
Four days after being thrashed at Elland Road, Newcastle staggered rather than strutted into the international break with a 2-1 win that snapped Hull City’s unbeaten start. Both clubs, written off by many before a ball was kicked, now pause the season in the top half of the Premier League table. That alone tells you how strange this campaign already feels.
Two Goals, Seven Minutes, Then the Breathless Wait
For 10 minutes, Newcastle looked like they might run Hull off the pitch.
They flew out of the blocks. Joe Willock, restored and restless, struck first. Lewis Hall added the second barely seven minutes in. Harvey Barnes, sharp and decisive, created both. Hull were still adjusting to the pace of the game when they found themselves two down and staring at the kind of afternoon that can unravel a season.
Newcastle smelled blood. Better final balls might have killed the contest before half-time. A missed penalty on the stroke of the interval only deepened the sense of a chance wasted. Hull had just three shots in that opening period, pinned back and second best.
Then the game turned.
The rolling xG graph tells the story in cold numbers; the pitch told it in heavy legs. Newcastle’s intensity dropped, almost visibly. A young side that had been battered physically in Gameweek 4 now looked short of match fitness. The press slowed, the distances grew, and Hull started to believe.
By the end, the visitors had racked up 19 second-half shots and actually edged the overall expected goals tally, even with Newcastle’s penalty inflating the home side’s numbers.
“You saw that after 50, 60 minutes, the legs were getting tired,” admitted head coach Matthias Jaissle. “We have a young, young squad and they need to adapt to the physicality of that league, so that you can perform like this over 90 minutes plus additional time. So, that will be also the next step for the upcoming weeks and months.”
Newcastle held on. But it was a cling-on, not a close-out.
Wissa Steps Up, Then Comes Up Short
One subplot hung over the day: who would take Newcastle’s penalties now that all three of last season’s regular takers have gone?
The answer, for now, is Yoane Wissa.
He grabbed the ball, took responsibility – and saw his first-half spot-kick saved. The numbers say it wasn’t terrible: an xG on target of 0.92 suggests Hull’s goalkeeper earned his moment. But it lacked conviction, a touch too tame for a player with a previously strong record of 13 converted from 16.
Whether Wissa keeps the job is now an open question. Jaissle, though, refused to hang his striker out to dry.
“He was playing on a high level today,” the coach said. “Also sacrificed a lot, worked a lot out of possession for the team, and yeah, missing a penalty, that can happen, but he showed up personality also in the second half.”
That work without the ball – from Wissa and from Mathias Fernandez-Pardo – drew praise from the bench. It doesn’t show up on the scoreboard. Nor, crucially for Fantasy Premier League managers, does it show up in points.
Wissa’s role didn’t help his numbers either. He drifted wide, dropped deep, pulled defenders around. Useful for the team, frustrating for anyone hoping for a classic penalty-box poacher. And yet, he was a stud away from a brace of tap-ins: Jacob Murphy’s whipped first-half cross flashed inches from his boot, then Malick Thiaw inexplicably lashed a ball across the six-yard box instead of sliding a simple square pass, with Wissa and Barnes both lurking at point-blank range.
On another day, he walks off with a goal and an assist and nobody talks about the penalty. Football doesn’t often grant those days on demand.
Injury List Grows, But Jaissle Stays Calm
The physical toll on Newcastle continues to mount. Tino Livramento became the ninth absentee before a ball was kicked, ruled out by muscle discomfort on the morning of the game.
“He suffered with some discomfort in the morning from yesterday’s training,” Jaissle said. “So, at the moment, we should have also the results already from the MRI but nothing for now from my side.”
During the match, both Fernandez-Pardo and the excellent midfield screen Sean Steur were forced off, adding to the anxiety. Jaissle, though, sounded relatively upbeat about those two.
“Hopefully, only fatigue and tired legs again, in part due to our brave approach.”
The international break, often an unwelcome interruption, arrives here like a pause button Newcastle desperately need.
DefCon Kings: Hall, Botman and a Block-First Backline
If Newcastle are still searching for rhythm in attack, their defenders are quietly building a reputation as some of the most productive in the league when it comes to the dirty work.
All four members of Saturday’s back line – with Lewis Miley filling in at right-back – picked up defensive contribution (DefCon) points. Thiaw, Hall and Sven Botman have now registered in three of their five league games, and Botman’s 59 defensive contributions are the joint-highest figure among all defenders.
No team has made more clearances, blocks or interceptions this season than Newcastle’s 240. It’s not always pretty, but it’s effective.
For Hall, those numbers are just the foundation. He remains a genuine threat going the other way. His goal – rifled in to double Newcastle’s lead – underlined his penalty-box instincts, and he almost added another when he nearly met a Murphy cross at the far post. He also retained corner duties, a useful string to his bow in both tactical and fantasy terms.
If Newcastle are to lean on anything while their attack stutters and their fitness builds, it might be this new-found taste for the grind.
Hull’s Fight, Belloumi’s Spark
Hull left with nothing. They did not leave disgraced.
After a sluggish, costly start, Sergej Jakirovic’s side grew into the contest and, on the balance of play, had every right to feel they deserved a point. The late siege on the Newcastle box felt inevitable as the hosts retreated and the visitors poured forward.
“We showed already 100 times that we will never surrender there,” Jakirovic insisted. “We have good mentality, good character and we will play till the end. So, unfortunately, just we miss goals.”
The shot count backs him up. The three players with the most attempts in the match all wore Hull colours.
At the heart of their threat once again stood Mohamed Belloumi. Listed at £5.1m in FPL terms, the winger is fast becoming one of the early-season revelations. His efforts tend to come from range, but they’re not hopeful hits; they whistle past posts, sting palms, and force defenders into hurried blocks.
He almost capitalised on a glaring error from Lukas Hornicek, pouncing on a loose ball only to see his close-range effort smothered. When his breakthrough did come, it was as creator: a neat assist for substitute Mohamed-Ali Cho, another bright spark off the Hull bench.
Belloumi’s influence is not just about shots and chances. He’s climbed to fourth in the FPL midfielders’ points table and has hit double figures for defensive contributions in four of his five starts, missing the 12-point DefCon threshold by a whisker here. He works, he presses, he tracks. And he still finds the energy to carry the ball and shoot.
Hull were tipped as whipping boys in August. They head into the break with their unbeaten run gone but their reputation enhanced. Newcastle, meanwhile, have their win, their top-half spot, and a long list of problems to solve.
When the league resumes, the question is simple: was this the start of a recovery, or just a brief pause in the doubts?
