3 things I disliked (and 1 thing I liked) from Newcastle’s defeat at Man Utd

Newcastle United somehow conspired to lose 1-0 to a Man Utd reserve side on Boxing Day in what must go down as another hugely disappointing performance in a season that is becoming littered with them.

The fact that Ruben Amorim felt comfortable to finish the match with five kids on the pitch, sit in a low block and say “come on then break us down” should send shivers down every Newcastle fan’s spine. Oh, and Patrick Dorgu scored the only goal of the game.

Here is 3 things I disliked (and 1 thing I liked) from the game:

Liked: Lewis Hall

I’m starting positive because this article is only going to get more negative as it goes on (and I apologise for that) but Lewis Hall was our best player on the pitch by some distance. The move where he dribbled past three Man Utd players and played a sublime pass in behind their RB was a joy to watch and he had our best chance to score when he crashed a long-range effort off the crossbar.

The lad oozes class and is a very technical player (one of the few we have in the side) and the footballing world is truly his oyster, however, we will struggle to keep hold of him if we go backwards as a club such is his talent.

Disliked: Attacking bluntness against a low block

United had 16 shots on goal throughout the match (three on target), but the Hall effort aside, you be hard pushed to remember one that actually threatened the keeper into making a half decent save.

Gordon, Murphy, and Woltemade were miles apart all game, barely linked up and it was so noticeably bad that even lifelong Man Utd fan, Gary Neville on comms, was absolutely bemused that we just couldn’t get at their defence.

Gordon hasn’t scored from open play since January, Murphy has regressed to type, Elanga has been a disaster signing (although he was injured yesterday), and this is having a knock-on effect on Woltemade as he is just not in games against a low block. The fact that the lad has nine goals playing in this side is frankly bordering on a miracle.

Newcastle had 46 crosses in the game, and I’d challenge you to remember one that was dangerous or was close to a player who could get on the end of it, yet we didn’t appear to even try to change how we played despite how ineffective it was.

Unfortunately, Wissa wasn’t in the game either when he came on but why when we are chasing a game can’t we at least try and play with two up top or a 4-2-3-1, with Big Nick in behind Wissa in the ten?

Disliked: A lack of bravery on the ball

You can’t deny that Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Jacob Ramsey were diabolical on the ball contributing to a lack of bravery in possession, which led to us being completely toothless in attack once again.

The dearth of technical ability saw us give away possession over and over, often in dangerous positions, which resulted in counter attacks for them which were three on three or four on four which was a bit amateur hour and with us seemingly marking man for man, the midfield was bypassed with one straight ball on multiple occasions, harking back to a couple of seasons ago when it was endemic in the side the finished seventh.

The fact that our two best technical players on the pitch (on the night) were at RB and LB is a real worry as despite fullbacks being a huge part of the modern game in an attacking sense, we still need the ability to play through the midfield, and we just don’t have it at the moment. 

Disliked: Seventh loss of the season already!

That was our seventh defeat of the season already and we are trending to get just 46 points in the league this season which will unfortunately see us finish nowhere and risk losing some of our blue-chip players in the summer.

Everton aside we have been a disgrace away from home all season and the fact that dropped points from winning positions (13) would’ve seen us sitting in fourth really hurts, especially when you see just how Villa are flying this season (the club that are the most analogous to us by a long way) and another season out of Europe for a club that wants to be “number one” would be a massive setback. 

Barring a ten-game back-to-back winning run we will, unfortunately, struggle to achieve our goals this season but it can still happen as after Burnley (which is probably a must win) we have four home games in a row which could kick start the season and we have to be active in the transfer window as the squad has huge deficiencies which need to be sorted.

Keep the faith. HWTL