Not all goals are created equal. Some goals are bigger than others.
Sometimes one comes along that just seems to carry particular weight, one that has the heft to shift the course of entire seasons.
Bruno Guimaraes’ last-minute winner for Newcastle against Fulham feels like such a goal. Without it, we would be starting to look at Newcastle and wonder what, exactly, they’re capable of this season.
Because until that moment this had been a game with a familiar story, with their inability to create clear chances and break down mid-table opposition at home being the most obvious problem that currently separates them from the best.
We know their defence is solid. Their midfield is more than that. We remain unconvinced about their attack.
One goal cannot change that, but it can change the conversation. Especially with the Premier League table as absurdly congested as it currently is. Without that late winner, and a game riddled with such familiar frustrations, we’d be looking at a Newcastle sitting on 10 points and uncomfortably close to the bottom three.
Now they’re in touching distance of the top four, albeit still five points behind second-placed Sunderland because football has apparently this season lost the entire run of itself.
By the time William Osula’s enterprising run and parried shot allowed Bruno Guimaraes to slot home that precious winner, Newcastle had changed their entire front three in a bid to make something happen. Something that, in truth, didn’t appear likely.
After Jacob Murphy ran unimpeded through the gaping holes where a Fulham defence ought to have been to expertly hand Newcastle a lead inside the first 20 minutes, this had become an intensely frustrating watch for the home fans.
It was not a game Newcastle will particularly enjoy, but a result that could mean plenty.
And of course the flipside of all this is just as true. That goal was a dagger through Fulham’s hearts after a fine second-half performance. Marco Silva will rue the errors at the heart of both goals; despite the swift and decisive excellence of both Murphy and Osula, they capitalised on mistakes that cannot and should not be made at this level.
And those are mistakes that have turned an encouraging Fulham performance into a fourth straight defeat. Now it is they who a looking uncomfortably over their shoulders, with the prospect of worse to come if tomorrow’s games don’t go the way they now need them to.
Fulham currently appear the archetypal Too Good To Go Down team. One about whom, back in the day, Mark Lawrenson would airily declare ‘They’ll be fine’ on Match of the Day in a manner that meant the matter was closed and dealt with.
But the problem with any team being Too Good To Go Down or being reassured They’ll Be Fine is that it only becomes worth noting when actually going down or not, in fact, being fine has become a possibility to be considered. It’s like a vote of confidence; the reason why it’s dreaded is because its very existence means things are already going awry.
And it is increasingly clear this is very much not the season to be having a bit of a blip. This, unlike the last couple of seasons, is at the very, very least not one where you can simply potter along at a point a game knowing that will be plenty when the three promoted sides are all struggling to break 30.
Fulham are now running at below that one point a game mark. Each one of this run of defeats is, in isolation, nothing much to worry about. The problem is the fact they have all come in a rush. And now they face two huge games against Wolves and Everton that will determine just how nervously the Cottagers will spend the next interlull, one which is already absurdly close to being upon us.
Newcastle, by contrast, can now look at their own games coming up before that break and eye significant progress in defending the Carabao and furthering their cause in the Champions League as well as climbing the table further in games against West Ham and Brentford.
Some goals are bigger than others.
