3 things I hated about Newcastle's derby display at Sunderland
Newcastle United lost 1-0 to Sunderland on Sunday afternoon, and were garbage throughout.
No one comes out with any credit, as the side basically failed to turn up and treated Sunderland like they were prime Manchester City from 2018.
Sunderland’s goal came via an unfortunate Nick Woltemade own goal, at a time when neither side had had a shot on target in the game. We had plenty of time to hit back, but didn't lay a glove on them in a truly pitiful display.
Here are three things I hated about the game...
The tactics
The gameplan was all wrong, it looked for all the world like Eddie Howe had set us up for a goalless draw and we gave Sunderland (who have started the season well, admittedly) far too much respect.
If that was the gameplan, then it’s crazy. We should be able to play to our strengths rather than over-worrying about the opponents. We should be looking to impose ourselves on the opposition. Our intensity has completely disappeared because we’re essentially playing every three days but trying to convert us into a possession-based side is not working.
Why not, when you’re chasing a game and you’re preparing to bring on Wissa, keep Woltemade on? Give them a chance to play together, change the formation to 4-2-3-1 with Big Nick in behind, try something different? It’s more than likely down to limited training time, but that reason can only last so long, because if we want to be successful, we’ll be playing three times a week all the time.
No heart, no fight
Gutless, spineless, hopeless, and don’t even get me started on the 94th minute melee which was all pointless and far too late in the game. Nobody comes out with any credit as the players resembled ghosts on the pitch, unable to physically affect anything, and were almost literally passed through as you began to wonder if any of our lads were corporeal or not!
To make it even worse, with the game slipping away, the coaching staff resembled Bambi’s mother in the rifle sights: weak, defenceless, and about to be put out of their misery as Eddie Howe seemed to wilt in the face of an embarrassing defeat.
Our set piece coach too, appears to have all the tactical nous of a rock golem, and his only contribution seems to be to say, “lump it to the back post lads” where, inexplicably, everyone has vacated when the ball arrives anyway. Shocking.
Out of sorts wingers
There’s the old phrase “they’ve all played badly, so there’s no point singling anybody out,” however, if there were ever two players to single out, it was our two wingers. Anthony Gordon was garbage, constantly running the ball out of play, running down blind alleys but often only jogging in front of his fullback, and (unfortunately) just being ignored by his teammates when he was through on goal too.
Unfortunately, I think the jury is finally back, has deliberated, and reached a verdict on our £55m Swede too. Part of the turgid gameplan seemed to be to try and play to his strengths, but what were they? He couldn’t control a ball, he always made the wrong run, he occupied the same spaces as other attacking players confusing them, he couldn’t cross, he could barely pass, and the one attribute he has (his pace) we just didn’t use. Atrocious.
You’ll probably think I’m being overly harsh on Elanga compared to Gordon, but we’ve seen that Gordon can do it when the pressure is on in the past. If Ross Wilson wasn’t now our Sporting Director, I’m sure he’d be laughing heartily at rinsing us for £55m in the summer!
