3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Newcastle 4 Leeds 3

Wednesday’s match ended Newcastle 4 Leeds 3.

Ahead of each match we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the game.

Plenty to talk about after this Leeds one!

Wow, what a match!!

On this occasion it is ‘Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey…’:

POSITIVES

Comeback Kings

Late, late drama at St James Park as Harvey Barnes registered the latest ever winning goal since the Premier League bothered recording these things (90 +12), even eclipsing the point in the game that Liverpool scored between the same set of goalposts at the Leazes End back in August.

United had to come back three times before taking the lead and that’s the first time we’ve turned a losing position into a win this season.

That felt so good. Cue pandemonium all around the stadium. What a finale!

Perseverance

“Keep right on to the end of the road” sang Harry Lauder and this Newcastle team did just that, their never say die attitude proving that a one goal deficit going into injury time can be converted into a win if guts, determination and perseverance are on show.

Captain fantastic Bruno Guimaraes never gives up and his performance personified events last night. Not at his best, but he kept at it, looking all ways for a way, scoring a 92nd minute penalty under immense pressure to haul us level for a third time, and his assist for big Joe’s goal was top draw.

Harvey Barnes with a brace, scoring the winner and our first equaliser, real poachers goals, sniffing around the box to such good effect, aided by a flick from Botman for the fourth and a sublime back heel from big Nick for our opening goal.

I’ll come onto Lewis Miley next, but his determination in keeping the ball in play to set up Bruno to find big Joe demonstrates what I’m talking about. when I speak of perseverance.

Coming of age

Lewis Miley started the game at right back and finished it as our right sided centre half.

In between, he also put a shift in on the right side of midfield as Eddie was forced to shuffle his pack, first Sandro Tonali leaving the field at half time before Fabian Schar’s horrendous looking injury in the 76th minute.

I read that Lewis hadn’t given the ball away in the full 90 minutes against Crystal Palace and I’m struggling to recall an occasion when he might have last night as well.

In Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento, it seemed we had the best two young English full backs in the game. We’ve got a third now but as Miley has demonstrated so aptly, this lad can play pretty much anywhere.

NEGATIVES

Oh no, Fabian Schar

Signed from Deportivo La Coruna for £3.5m in 2018, I’ve often described Fabian Schar as pound for pound, one of our best signings of the modern era.

Last night we lost wor Fab in the 76th minute to what looked like a very bad injury, the Swiss stretchered off and taken directly to hospital after a collision with Dominic Calvert Lewin.

Here’s to hoping it’s not as bad as it looked, but Eddie’s initial comments didn’t sound at all good, saying “He’s in hospital at the moment and it doesn’t look good for him.”

Hero to Zero

I don’t like calling out an individual but Malik Thiaw had a ‘mare and was rightly replaced at half-time.

Very surprising given his MOTM performance just three days earlier.

Whether it was fatigue or something else, Dominic Calvert Lewin ragged him all over the place as our usually dependable German defender received an early yellow, and essentially gave two goals away.

No doubt Eddie will be putting his arm around him this morning to restore the lad’s confidence.

Not pretty

On an evening when we’d just heard the sad news about King Kev, that performance (and scoreline) was a real blast from the past, winning in the end but with some ‘Keystone Cops’ defending for all three of our opponents goals, and what on earth was Nick Pope doing when misjudging that cross when James Justin’s header ricocheted off the bar?

Not pretty and credit to Leeds who demonstrated why they’ve become so difficult to beat, but a win’s a win and that’s our third on the bounce in the league and we’re up to sixth.

Best wishes to Kevin Keegan.

Newcastle 4 Leeds 3 –  Wednesday 7 January 2026 8.15pm

Match Stats

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Barnes 36, 90+12, Joelinton 54, Bruno 90+1

Leeds United:

Aaronson 32, 79, Calvert Lewin 45+5 pen

Possession was Newcastle 63% Leeds 37%

Total shots were Newcastle 18 Leeds 14

Shots on target were Newcastle 8 Leeds 6

Corners were Newcastle 8 Leeds 4

Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 37 Leeds 26

Newcastle team v Leeds:

Pope, Miley, Thiaw (Botman 46), Schar (Ramsey 76), Hall, Tonali (Livramento 46), Joelinton, Bruno, Barnes, Gordon (Jacob Murphy 81), Woltemade (Wissa 75)

Unused subs:

Ramsdale, Trippier, Willock, Alex Murphy