A beautifully floated free-kick from Joey Barton just before half time prompted Fabianski to stagger out of his six yard box, wave his arms about, and allow the monster of Andy Carroll to power the flying ball into the back of an empty Arsenal net. It was that simple.
But the hard bit was yet to come for Newcastle. They had to resist the Arsenal attack, break up the play, and just get it out of their area. They did it brilliantly, with every single player working so hard for the team to keep out the Arsenal force. Tiote and Barton controlled the midfield - breaking down any attacks and running and running until the final minutes to win a valuable three point for the Magpies.Arsenal had limited chances with a Nasri strike in the first half well saved by Tim Krul in the goal, while a Fabregas free-kick, also in the first half, hit the cross bar. But that was really as close as Arsenal came to scoring. All in all it was a very frustrating home game for Arsenal, who simply couldn't get passed the very well organised defence and midfield of Newcastle.
The strikers too, of Carroll, Ameobi and Ranger worked their socks off. They often didn't have much support in the box and had to come deep to receive the ball as well as moving out wide, but they didn't stop working, and also helped in defence.
Capello sat in the stands, watching the Englishmen on show closely. Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll in particular played well, and with Capello looking for different, new players to break into his squad of national failures, they all have a chance.
Rooney's bad form has been well publicised, and Andy Carroll's good form was clear for the England manager to see today. He could be looking at a place in the England squad, or team in the near future if his form continues.
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