Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction after Newcastle 2 Crystal Palace 0

Newcastle 2 Crystal Palace 0 –  Sunday 3 January 2026 3pm

Newcastle United fan/writer reaction from some of our regular contributors on The Mag.

Nat Seaton:

‘What a great way to start the new year.

Some great performances, including Miley, Joelinton, and our Captain Fantastic (again!).

Still some players under par but we had subs that were worth bringing on today,making all the difference.

Hopefully this is the start of a run through January that will see us all smiling by the end of the month.

Can’t wait for Wednesday, bring on Leeds.’

Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey…:

‘Workmanlike, professional, job done.

A good start to the new year, comfortable in the end against a very stubborn and physical Palace.

Thiaw edged my MOTM award but Bruno, Miley and Joelinton all ran him close.

Harvey Barnes looked good after his introduction as the game opened up.’

Tony Mallabar:

‘On 50 minutes I said to Chrissy Numbers that this has got nowts each written all over it…wrong.

A much needed and hard fought win, Bruno again our talisman with muckle joe getting back to something like his best.

Once again the east stand in fine voice and anybody who says the east stand is full of old codgers, might have a point as soon as our opener went in, cue mass rush to the toilets. Although I am blaming the cold.’

GToon:

‘Huge win that. Palace are a decent side but we really dug in today and had too much quality for them.

Just how good is Bruno! He is Newcastle.

And Miley. For those who didn’t see his stats : 56 passes and 100% completed. He is some player. And an assist for the first goal too.

There were some excellent individual performances today, although the team never hit the heights, whilst a horrendous miss from Willock prevented a more realistic scoreline.

Thiaw was immense against the very impressive Mateta.

Happy days!!!’

David Punton:

‘A battling victory – surely a huge tonic for Eddie Howe amid all the Plan B chatter.

At times it wasn’t pretty, the VAR looked to have thwarted us, but our talisman got us up and running before Thiaw was able to seal it.

Possibly a good time to play Palace, who have been on a bad run.

We were much better in midfield today and pushed on from 1-0.

Special mention for Lewis Miley, who is playing so well out of position.

Willock was profligate late on, so it should have been 3-0, but never mind.

We take the points and it’s on to the next one in this grand national course of a season.’

Billy Miller:

‘Deserved 3 points even if we took our time to get the goals.

Two ruled out before the break but we controlled a game that Palace seemed intent on strangling the life out of.

The boys from Brazil were both excellent, Thiaw was a mountain and completely unruffled by Mateta and Pope must have been practicing his kicking, as I thought he was flawless with the ball at his feet today.

But the standout player has to be Lewis Miley. He was grace and composure personified. Could have lost his place with two right backs returning to the bench but he’s rapidly becoming undroppable.’

Simon Ritter:

‘Good news before kick-off, with no new injuries and a return to the squad for Livramento, Trippier and Botman.

Even better news at full-time, with three points, two goals and a clean sheet.

The four-man defence and Nick Pope were impressively solid.

Our Brazilian duo in midfield ran the show, though Tonali was again careless in possession.

Wissa looked sharp, Gordon was busy but Murphy had an off-day.

Barnes probably did enough to start on Wednesday night.

For his all-round game and crucial second goal I would make Thiaw man of the match, just ahead of Bruno.’

Mark Jankowski:

‘A big 3 points and a long overdue clean sheet.

Palace looked like a well-coached side that was running on empty and eventually Newcastle were able to make their quality tell.

The only downside to the day is the Mackems managed to smuggle a point out of North London so remain 1 place above us until midweek.’

Newcastle 2 Crystal Palace 0 –  Sunday 3 January 2026 3pm

Match Stats

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Bruno 71, Thiaw 78

Palace:

Possession was Newcastle 59% Palace 41%

Total shots were Newcastle 12 Palace 11

Shots on target were Newcastle 7 Palace 1

Corners were Newcastle 8 Palace 6

Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 35 Palace 26

Newcastle team v Crystal Palace:

Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Schar, Hall (Livramento 63), Tonali (Ramsey 63), Joelinton, Bruno, Jacob Murphy (Willock 88), Gordon (Barnes 63), Wissa (Woltemade 78)

Unused subs:

Ramsdale, Trippier, Botman, Alex Murphy