​Newcastle United Fans Celebrating Selhurst ParkAn afternoon that threatened to become Much Ado About Nothing Nothing was transformed just after 3pm against Crystal Palace when Newcastle United suddenly rediscovered the movement and passing that make for winning football.What’s also needed, of course, is accurate finishing, which Will Osula and Harvey Barnes supplied to capitalise on the creative work of Jacob Murphy and Amar Dedic respectively.An assured display by Lukas Hornicek, in probably his best game so far for the Magpies, was also important. In a rare scare before the interval, he dived bravely amid flying boots to foil the lethargic Mateta.Perhaps the biggest factor in claiming all three points, mind, was the return to the starting line-up of the vastly experienced Dan Burn and Fabian Schar. How they have been missed!The first half, viewed from the upper section of the Arthur Wait Stand (more of that later) was almost entirely forgettable. That’s unhelpful when trying to write a match report, so here are my general impressions.We were sent out by Matthias Jaissle to be risk-averse. Whenever I looked at our back line, it comprised five players: Lewis Hall, Burn, Schar, Dedic and Murphy. United were nominally kicking right to left, as the radio commentators like to say (more of that later). Often we went backwards.Hall and Harvey Barnes tried to combine on our left; Dedic and Murphy likewise on the right. Almost nothing good came from their efforts. Passes went straight to opponents or straight into touch. The movement was pedestrian. The few forward runs off the ball never looked likely to see the ball. Osula ploughed a lone furrow on his first start since he roughed up Liverpool more than two months ago.The top priority of keeping a clean sheet was somewhat ironic because that’s the way Palace played at home against us in the first half last season and in 2024-25. This might be a tactic specifically employed to counter the Mags at Selhurst Park, though somehow I doubt it.A howling gale militated against attractive football unless you have the skill and vision to play on rather than above the grass. Adam Wharton has them in spades. Yesterday was his 102nd league start, with 34 for Blackburn Rovers before Palace paid a ridiculously low £18m for him in February 2024, five days before he turned 20.If Wharton misplaced a pass or lost possession in the first half, I didn’t notice. Supporters are often told Premier League clubs have to pay a big premium for English players. Only in some cases . . .Hall again looked a class above his teammates and was on the receiving end of robust Palace challenges all afternoon, most of which were ignored by the referee. Paul Tierney had a rotten game. Free-kicks and throws were taken five or 10 yards farther forward with impunity. The players only stopped cheating when Tierney started doing his job, about 40 minutes in. Palace spent ages over nearly every set-piece but in the end the visitors were th