It was a great atmosphere to launch the new era at St James’ Park, but the performance was more of the same.
Steve Bruce shouldn’t have been allowed to be in the dugout for the first match under the new ownership. The reasons for sacking him were evident on Sunday and surely it will be a matter of time before he does leave the club.
Below we rate the performance of each Newcastle player:
Karl Darlow – 4 – It was a disappointing day for Darlow and served as a reminder of what we are missing without Martin Dubravka. He could do little for the first or third goals, but he should have done better with Harry Kane’s goal. Darlow committed himself too early and have the England captain an easy task of finding the back of the net.
Javier Manquillo – 4 – The assist for Callum Wilson’s goal was good, but defensively, he was suspect. He could have done more on each goal. We desperately need a better option at right back.
Jamaal Lascelles – 5 – It was good to see him back and he will improve. There were some good contributions at the back, but he should have been more active on the first goal. There was a chance to close down quicker and he didn’t take it.
Ciaran Clark – 4 – It seems harsh to continue to criticise Clark as he is out of his depth at Premier League level. He was bullied by Harry Kane in this one.
Matt Ritchie – 5 – This is another position that needs strengthening, as Ritchie isn’t a left back. Defensively, he was good for him. In attack, he was wasteful when he did get into crossing positions.
Isaac Hayden – 4 – The midfield had no defensive structure and it was easy for Tottenham to play through the lines. Hayden was the holding midfielder and he didn’t perform well. The blame is with the coaching team, but Hayden didn’t come out with much credit.
Sean Longstaff – 5 – There has been improvement in his performances this season, but he is another that looked completely off the pace in midfield. An early booking made him very ineffective as the game wore on.
Joe Willock – 6 – It has been a difficult task for Willock this season, as he struggles with various injuries. He got better in the second half with some driving runs.
Joelinton – 5 – The Brazilian had a lot of involvements as the game plan was clearly to hit him early. He competed well in the air, but didn’t do much when he got the ball down. Too often, his second touch was a tackle.
Allan Saint-Maximin – 7 – There were some exciting moments, as there always are with the Frenchman. His decision making wasn’t always great, but he was one of the better performers.
Callum Wilson – 7 – It was great to see him back and his movement was excellent. He will score goals if we give him service. Our defence needs to improve so his efforts aren’t in vain.
SUBS:
Jonjo Shelvey – 2 – A disaster. He didn’t get involved in the game and picked up two silly yellow cards.
Ryan Fraser – N/A
Jacob Murphy – N/A
Our thoughts go out to the supporter that suffered a medical emergency in the first half. The Tottenham players deserve credit for drawing attention to it.
If the new owners dont see what the fans were calling for we are in even more trouble, should never have allowed Bruce to be in the dugout, clear to see the players have had enough now.
He picked a team with players out of position, Ritchie is never a fullback 100% maybe but lacking in that role, Lascelles and Clark not good enough, which has been proven for a while now.
Put players in the right position we may have a chance then, Shar should be in the midfield and Fernandes in the defence alongwith Kraft at least in their positions, Longstaff has given up and wants away especially on his current salary must drag him down knowing his brother is on 10 times more?? A shambles from top to bottom, if I thought Bruce was that clever you would think he was planning to fail to get sacked. Horror show just hope the PIF understand our plight. HWTL
The Kidda from the Toon(Quote)
My thoughts before the kick off were Clarke would be turned and given the run around, suggested Schar or Fernandez and Ritchie should be played further up rather than Joelinton, who once again showed he has about as much menace as a goldfish.
What disappointed me most was the rudderless midfield who offered neither support to the defence or attack, Hayden and Longstaff were worse than useless, and Shelvey put the icing on the cake with his stupidity, felt a bit sorry for Willock with that lot around him.
A decent coach, not Dumb and Dumber, who took an age to make substitutions must be able to get a better tune out of Jamal Lewis at LB, and start playing people in their proper positions.
The new owners, if they don’t know already have a mammoth task on, after a total lack of investment by Ashley.
In fact the only people who were backed properly have been Bruce and McLaren.
That says it all!
Joseph(Quote)
Any idea why Dwight Gayle is at the club,take a striker off,and put on two wingers,come on a Sunday league coach wouldn’t do that
Kevin Edward Ward(Quote)
Any idea why Dwight Gayle is at the club,take a striker off,and put on two wingers,come on a Sunday league coach wouldn’t do that
Kev Ward(Quote)
Maybe he’s sh!te?
BykerBill(Quote)
Why are we not considering Arsene Wenger as a manager who could spend two or three years restructuring and developing the club
He would attract good players and improve the youth and give them a chance
Jeff douglas(Quote)
Can’t believe you think it’s good to have Lascelles back he is the worst centre back we have and his sparring partner Hayden isn’t interested either, so the spine of our team is useless and needs replaced with better players, in the meantime Fernandez and Dummett as soon as fit as our centre backs, Lewis needs to be trusted at LB he is better than the headless chicken Ritchie, just cos he runs about doesn’t make him any good, Schar should be our holding midfielder.
Our best 11 is one of the worst in the league so I’m not surprised we are where we are, Bruce isn’t good and a new manager might get more but with this group of players I ain’t holding my breath.
In reality we have 4/5 players who would possibly get into other bottom half of league teams and maybe only ASM who could play with a better team.
Fingers crossed we are not too far adrift by New Year and we can get a few players in to turn the tide.
David(Quote)