That 90 minutes at St James’ Park felt like an eternity, ending Newcastle 2-2 Chelsea.
Chelsea will be happy with how they responded, but that doesn’t excuse what can only be described as an abysmal first half.
Enzo Maresca obviously said something that gave them the jolt they needed. When they emerged from the tunnel, the tone was different.
You can be sure that was, in part at least, down to the manager, but the player Alan Shearer has singled out had an even bigger impact on the outcome of this stress-inducing Premier League clash.
A difficult afternoon, but resilience shown by Chelsea 🙌
Who was your Player of the Match?
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Alan Shearer rightly credits Reece James for Chelsea’s turnaround
As painful as that match was from a Chelsea perspective, we can at least say they showed mentality and fight to come back into the tie after going two down in the opening 20 minutes.
Shearer, and the rest of the Newcastle support, will be sickened by the result. Their habit of dropping points from leading positions has been a feature of what is shaping up as a disappointing campaign.
Chelsea started strong in the second half, but Shearer has no doubt what had the greatest impact on the game.
Reece James scores for Chelsea
Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP via Getty Images
Writing for the Premier League live blog, he remarks: “”If you ever need evidence of goals changing games, that’s exactly what happened to Chelsea following Reece James’ free kick. It just flipped.
“Newcastle couldn’t get near that Chelsea team. Chelsea moved it a lot quicker; they had more width, their wingers got into the game and started asking questions, they didn’t do that in the first half.”
In the opening 30 minutes of this game, Newcastle bullied Chelsea off the pitch. It took 15 minutes of reflection in the dressing room for the Blues to realise they needed to bully back.
They walked a fine line at times, but kept it just within the bounds of the law.
Reece James on that free-kick
After the game, James was interviewed by TNT Sports about the result and the free-kick that changed the game.
He responded: “”I have been taking free-kicks all my life. To execute one when we needed to pull something out the bag was a great feeling.”
They really did need that. James’ masterclass against Newcastle earned Chelsea a point.
Chelsea fight back🔥
Enzo Maresca's team talk must have been something to see!
Newcastle United v Chelsea - Premier League
Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images
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Sure, others like Robert Sanchez and Joao Pedro played a significant part, but on both sides of the ball, James was something else.
No disagreements here, Shearer.
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