If there was any further proof needed about how a much of a muchness the Premier League is this season then, then the fact we temporarily moved up 4 places in the table after that dreadful performance on Saturday says it all.
The fact we couldn’t take the game to the leagues worst team and had to rely on Dubravka to nick a point is damning, and yet again we didn’t even threaten Norwich or create anything, with our ball retention ranging from embarrassing to non-existent.
The club’s decision to not bring in a striker in January seemed even crazier when you looked at the bench and saw no other forwards, meaning Bruce’s options to try and change things or giving us fresh attacking impetus were practically non existant. However his decision to leave the fit again duo Fabian Schar and Florian Lejeune out was an odd one, considering how important they were to this system in the second half of last season.
Their ability to play out from the back changes the whole complexion of the team and pushes us further up the pitch.
While Fernandez, Lascelles and Clark are all good defenders and it would be harsh to drop any of them, they are far inferior on the ball and when teams press them it results in long balls to an isolated Joelinton.
Schar and Lejeune are probably two of the finest technical players in our whole squad and having them and Bentaleb, who I still maintain will be a good signing, can dramatically improve our ball retention.
Bruce has confirmed they will start tomorrow at Oxford so hopefully they make it impossible for him to leave them out at Arsenal.
It’s called rotation and using hindsight to slate NUFC is poor. You never have anything good to publish about Newcastle.
Cocobear(Quote)