The demons of one striker, the ghost of another and a third fretting in the shadows. St James’ Park was again a raucous arena on Saturday, where the miseries of last season have been parked if not obliterated, but if any thread emerged from a themeless game, dominated by the officials, it coalesced around centre forwards, two belonging to Newcastle United, at least for now, and a hole where Arsenal’s should be.
Arsène Wenger’s team secured their eighth consecutive victory against Newcastle — they have not lost on Tyneside since 2005 — but it felt like a chore. Aleksandar Mitrovic’s 16th-minute dismissal brought a premature end to a contest between near-equals and turned it into a form of attrition, as Steve McClaren’s players retreated behind the ball and their opponents attempted to tiptoe around them, to a backdrop of froth and fury from the stands, mainly directed at Andre Marriner, the referee.
By catching Francis Coquelin’s shin with his studs, Mitrovic completed a swift journey that began with bemusement when he was booked within seconds of making his debut for launching himself at Matt Targett, of Southampton, and continued with another rash caution away to Swansea City. McClaren disputed the red card — “very harsh,” he said — but it did not look like a raw injustice. At best, there is already a trail of witless behaviour.
“We’ll talk with the group about it,” McClaren, whose full back, Daryl Janmaat, was sent off at the Liberty Stadium, said. “It’s about going out there with fire in your belly and ice in your head.” The head coach said that Mitrovic is “in a daze at the moment”, but he will now have a three-game suspension to clear his mind. As Papiss Cissé said: “For him to do something like that was hard for the team.”
Cissé went on in the second half and would normally be expected to replace Mitrovic, but having started the season in McClaren’s side and scoring against Southampton, the Senegal striker was dropped for the goalless draw away to Manchester United. “I work very hard on the training pitch every day, but I don’t know if I’ve done something wrong,” the 30-year-old said. “The decision is for the gaffer to make and I accept that, but it’s very hard for me.”
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Cissé, asked if he would still be at Newcastle after the transfer deadline, said: “I don’t know. Seriously, I don’t know.” He has been linked with Galatasaray and clubs in the Far East but, with Mitrovic absent, could his employers sanction his departure without bringing in a replacement?
Rule one: never second-guess Mike Ashley. “Nobody wants to be at a club where you don’t feel wanted,” Madou Diene, the player’s agent, said yesterday. For Arsenal, the question is whether they can challenge without attacking reinforcements. Lacking Danny Welbeck and Mesut Özil, Wenger began with Theo Walcott up front — Olivier Giroud was on the bench — and although there was movement and pace, there was also a bad close-range miss.
They should have had a penalty when Florian Thauvin trod on Hector Bellerín, but it took a deflection off Fabricio Coloccini for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to beat Tim Krul.
“I would like us to score more, but what you want is to win and it is difficult winning away from home when it is 11 versus 10,” Wenger said. “The referee was under pressure for every single ball. I just hoped that we would not overreact at some stage.”
Would the Frenchman still like to bring in a quality signing? “Yes, but you have seen the team today and we did not have Welbeck, Özil, [Jack] Wilshere available and they are real players,” he said.
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Newcastle have collected only two points and are in the bottom three, but positivity clings to them; supporters blared their backing. Are they a club again? Alan Shearer, their record goalscorer, summed up the game neatly on Twitter.
It was “hard to judge” Newcastle, he said, but he liked, “their spirit and commitment”. And Arsenal? “Not hard to judge,” Shearer said. “They need a top-class centre forward.”
Ratings
Newcastle United (4-2-3-1): T Krul 7 — D Janmaat 6, C Mbemba 7, F Coloccini 7, M Haidara 6 — V Anita 6 (sub: A Pérez, 72min), J Colback 5 — M Sissoko 7 (sub: P Cissé, 78), G Wijnaldum 6, F Thauvin 5 (sub; S de Jong, 87) — A Mitrovic 2. Substitutes not used: G Obertan, C Tioté, K Darlow, S Taylor. Booked: Sissoko, Mbemba, Thauvin, Anita, Wijnaldum, Coloccini. Sent off: Mitrovic.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): P Cech 6 — H Bellerín 7, Gabriel 7, L Koscielny 7, N Monreal 7 — F Coquelin 6, S Cazorla 7 — A Oxlade-Chamberlain 7 (sub: M Arteta, 81), A Ramsey 7, A Sánchez 6 — T Walcott 6 (sub; O Giroud, 70). Substitutes not used: M Debuchy, K Gibbs, D Ospina, C Chambers, J Campbell. Booked: Cazorla.
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Window box
Newcastle Steve McClaren said that Aleksandar Mitrovic’s dismissal did not alter his transfer thinking, although with the caveat: “It might in an hour.” Papiss Cissé’s restlessness could change things, but Newcastle are generally satisfied with their deals.
Arsenal Twenty-two shots and nine on target looks overwhelming, but Arsenal laboured to break down Newcastle. As things stand, the lack of a cutting edge looks obvious, but Arsène Wenger’s intransigence is well established.