Newcastle United Football Club - Match reports - Racing Club Strasbourg Alsace (France) (h)

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Season 2026-27
Racing Club Strasbourg Alsace (France) (h) VisitMalta Weekender Day 2

Date: Sunday 16th August 2026, 4pm

Venue: St.James' Park

Admission: Ł40/Ł50 weekend ticket
Ł30/Ł25 daily (Ł60 daily family ticket, 2 adults +2 concessions)

By matchday, online promotions such as ticketsforgood saw admission available for as little as Ł3.95.

Programme: Ł3.50 covering both days

Conditions: Inaccurate

Newcastle		Strasbourg
	1 - 1 (2-3 pens)
Half time:	1 - 0

Score Sheet:
(38) Osula		Yassine (69)

	Teams
Jaouen Shahar Charlton Burn Schar Ramsey Bamba Willock J.Murphy Toure Osula		Jorgensen Amo-Ameyaw Becker Chilwell Doue El Mourabet Mara Moreira Nanasi Omobamidele Sousa

Substitutes:
(46) Johnson for Burn (46) Pivas for Schar (75) Neave for J.Murphy (86) Finneran for Willock		Del Blanco for Chilwell (31) Reyna for Mara (46) Yassine for Amo-Ameyaw (67) Antwi for Doue (67) Noubissie for El Mourabet (67) Kodia for Moreira (67) Amougou for Nanasi (67) Coulibaly for Omobamidele (67) Dembia Diop for Sousa (67)
Subs not used:
Gillespie Sanusi		Godo Kerckaert Raffourt

Bookings:
None		tbc
Dismissals:
None		None

Referee: Anthony Backhouse VAR: n/a

Attendance: 34,076. Level 7 remained closed again. The visitors were backed by seven fans.

Goals

38 min William Osula shot home from close range at the Leazes End. 1-0

Half time: Newcastle 1 Strasbourg 0

69 mins Gessime Yassine shot. 1-2

Full time: Newcastle 1 Strasbourg 1

The shootout:

0-0 Reyna saved
0-0 Osula missed
0-1 Yassine scored
0-1 Ramsey missed
0-2 Amougou scored
1-2 Neave scored
1-2 Del Blanco saved
2-2 Toure scored
2-3 Demba Diop scored
2-3 Bamba missed (hit post)

Strasbourg win 3-2

Let's have a look at the new scoreboard

Mag Ewen's best stops weren't enough.....

We Said

Matthais Jaissle:

to follow....

Following his first game since becoming club captain, Dan Burn said:

On Eddie Howe's decision to stand down:

"If I'm honest, I didn't think he was going to do it.

I knew he was disappointed after the Fulham game, but I thought after the summer he was going to be ready to come back, so I spoke to him regularly in the off-season. I was in Canada when I found out, I just had a few texts when I woke up.

"Listen, I think there's always time for change, and Eddie obviously thought that it was time for him to step away. I've played under a lot of managers unfortunately, so I've tried to take a little bit from everything, but in my experience change can be good if you put that effort into it and embrace the new change and the new philosophy, so as a club and as a city I hope that's what we're going to do this season.

"I think the younger lads are going to need a lot of support this year, so yeah, I'm hoping that the crowd can bring that.

"Change is not always a negative thing: I think for lots of reasons people did think it was time for a change personally. Either way, I was sad to see the manager go, but as I said change can be a good thing and hopefully we'll see the start of that this week.

"I'm still learning names (of all the new players and staff) to be honest.

"We've always done well as a team when we have that thing where it's us against the world. I feel like we were always written off a little bit. We always seem to be backs against the wall fighting.

"For me, that's when we play at our best, when we've got that underdog mentality, so hopefully we will kick on."

On his message to fans:

"Just be positive, I think. You can build a lot of momentum either way. I think we're a club that does build momentum either way, when Newcastle are always positive and we're building towards it, or it can be negative sometimes, so I feel like we need to embrace this change.

"Obviously for one reason or another the manager thought it was time to step away and for someone to come in, so I'm just hoping that externally and internally we can just bring a bit of positivity going towards the season.

"It's been a summer of change and it is going to take a while to get the younger lads up to Premier League football and what we're wanting, but I'm looking forward to it, I think it's an exciting challenge."

On becoming captain:

"Some things you can't really dream of when you're a kid, but for me that was a dream from very early on to be captain of Newcastle, so very grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to leading the lads this season.

"I'm very happy that he chose me to do that, obviously I understand what the fans want.

"As I said, we've got a young team and hopefully I can show the lads what's expected of them as Newcastle players."

They Said

Hugo Oliveira - installed last month - said:

to follow....

Following six straight pre-season losses, Oliveira saw his side avoid defeat for the first time since taking over, but within 24 hours saw two further members of his squad depart.

After Valentin Barco switched to partner club Chelsea earlier in the window, fellow midfielder Rabby Nzingoula became a West Bromwich Albion player and forward Julio Enciso signed for Ipswich Town ahead of Strasbourg's visit to Gallowgate.

Hours after this game, midfielder Abdoul Ouattara was also reunited with his old manager Gary O'Neill at Portman Road and Diego Moreira - who played 67 minutes here - joined AC Milan.

Stats

Seven pre-season games played. Two won, four lost, one drawn. Ten goals scored, 12 conceded:

NUFC pre-season 2026/27:

Darlington (h) won 3-0
Gateshead (a) drew 1-1
Bristol City (a) lost 1-4
Valencia (a) won 2-1
Everton (n) lost 1-3
Bayer Leverkusen (h) lost 1-2
Racing Strasbourg (h) drew 1-1 (lost on pens)

Pre-season scorers:

Osula 2
Barnes 2
Wissa 2
Neave 1
Willock 1
Thaiw 1
(og) 1

Pre-season pitch time (in minutes):

37 players were utilised in pre-season, one less than the 2025/26 total:

Pre-season pitch time (in minutes):

Ramsey 45+82+90+67+45+0+90=419
Steur 45+90+90+45+45+90+0=405
Barnes 45+77+90+45+45+90+0=392 +2 goals
J.Murphy 45+77+82+51+45+0+75=375
Willock 45+82+90+23+45+0+86=371 +1 goal
Botman 45+0+90+90+45+90+0=360
Hall 45+82+90+0+45+90+0=352
Shahar 45+69+8+45+45+0+90=303
Hornicek 0+0+0+90+90+90+0=270
Elanga 0+0+74+39+45+90+0=248
Pivas 45+30+0+67+45+10+45=242
M.Miley 45+21+1+45+45+80+0=237
Osula 45+0+0+45+45+0+90=225 +2 goals
Charlton 45+8+1+23+45+0+90=212
Thiaw 0+0+0+45+45+90+0=207 +1 goal
Jaouen 45+21+45+0+0+0+90=201
Woltemade 0+0+0+45+45+86+0=198
Neave 45+69+56+0+0+4+15=190 +1 goal
Bamba 0+0+0+45+45+0+90=180
Toure 0+0+0+45+45+0+90=180
Wissa 0+0+0+45+45+90+0=180 +2 goals
Pope 45+69+45+0+0+0+0=160
A.Murphy 45+90+20+0+0+0+0=155
Schar 0+60+20+0+0+0+45=125
Joelinton 0+0+0+67+45+0+0=112
Johnson 0+0+0+18+45+0+45=108
Finneran 45+0+0+0+0+45+4=94
Seung-soo 45+13+34+0+0+0+0=92
Sanusi 45+13+0+0+0+0+0=58
Munda 45+8+0+0+0+0+0=53
Salia 45+8+0+0+0+0+0=53
Burn 0+0+0+0+0+0+45=45
Craggs 45+0+0+0+0+0+0=45
L.Miley 0+0+0+0+0+45+0=45
Ferreira 0+21+16+0+0+0+0=37
Gillespie 0+0+0+0+0+0+0=0
Harris 0+0+0+0+0+0+0=0

Waffle

Newcastle concluded their pre-season programme on Sunday by playing out a draw with their Ligue 1 visitors - before losing the eventful penalty shootout that followed.

Will Osula met Jacob Murphy's cross on 38 minutes to shoot the blue-clad Magpies ahead; the Dane also twice denied by fellow countryman Filip Jorgensen in the Strasbourg goal.

Making seven substitutions during the second half hydration break, newly-arrived Gessime Yassine then immediately fired past Ewen Jaouen in the Leazes End goal after Jacob Ramsey surrendered possession outside his own area.

With no further scoring, the game went to penalties, Jaouen acrobatically denying Giovanni Reyna and Mateo Del Blanco. Less memorably, Osula blasted high over the crossbar before Ramsey emulated him with a similarly wild effort. Had they been practicing at Murrayfield in midweek - with rugby posts?

Sean Neave and Bazoumana Toure both netted, but Aladji Bamba's kick struck the post, ensuring that visiting sides completed a clean sweep of away victories over the weekend after Bayer Leverkusen and Inter Women. In terms of shootouts, the last one as feckless as this we recall was the League Cup Quarter Final exit at Hull City in 2016 when Jonjo Shelvey and Dwight Gayle missed our first two.

Although both contributed to this defeat, Osula and Ramsey were United's best two performers overall. The striker took up attacking positions and managed on goal, even if his accuracy was variable. The midfielder meanwhile looked strong and deserving of a starting berth next week.

Of the others, the contribution of Murphy - and the amount of pitch time - suggests that his race here isn't quite run yet, while both Dan Burn and Fabian Schar managed 45 minute outings without mishap. The same couldn't be said of Joe Willock, who limped off in the closing stages, replaced by Sean Neave who uncharacteristically played down the right.

As Mason Miley had done 24 hours earlier, Leo Shahar gave a good account of himself at right back today. Given the fitness travails of Tino Livramento however, news that a deal is close for Amar Dedic comes as a relief, even if he is the equivalent of an Emil Krafth replacement.

Without being detrimental to the efforts of the development squad players we've seen pressed into service since July, they cannot form our future as a Premier League club.

Training and travelling with the first team and the odd 20 minutes in cup ties plus a sprinkling of U21 games awaits some, but worthwhile loans are essential to gauge their potential: the likes of Shahar, Neave and Miodrag Pivas are simply marking time playing age-specific football.

And so ends a faintly traumatic series of warm-ups, ahead of what will inevitably be a season of transition. As to what we're transitioning into, your guess is as good as ours...

Biffa

Page last updated 18 August, 2026