Key takeaways from Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle – Centre-backs, Isak and Howe let down?

Newcastle United suffered defeat to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, with goals from Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer either side of an Alexander Isak equaliser condemning United to another miserable outing in South London making it five games without a win.

Stamford Bridge is an unhappy hunting ground, and it was summed up by the Swedish striker’s inability to find his man in front of an open goal which really highlighted just how off it United are at the moment.

Here are our some of my key takeaways from the game:

1. Ageing Centre Backs Exposed by Recruitment Failures

Let’s be clear – United’s defending on Sunday was atrocious. Both centre backs were constantly dragged into midfield by Palmer and Jackson dropping deep, leaving their lack of pace horribly exposed.

However, in an era of football dominated by creative, hard tackling, hardworking number 6’s sweeping between the midfield line and defensive line (Chelsea had two playing on Sunday) – United’s lack of a specialist player or a player who is disciplined enough to perform that role in the squad is criminal.

It’s a failure of recruitment, it’s a failure of coaching and it is a failure which is costing us dearly right now and showing our aging, slow centre backs for what they are. You can clearly see why the club pushed so hard to get Marc Guehi in the summer and Sven Botman simply cannot come back quick enough.

             2. Too Many Are  Underperforming 

Howe’s tactics, poor subs, lack of plan B and failure to adapt have created cause for concern at times this season, but he is also being let down by his players.

Despite scoring, Isak committed one of the worst sins on a football pitch by being greedy when he should’ve squared for a tap into an empty net. Joelinton has got his new contract and has regressed; Barnes is an anonymous waste of £38m (should’ve been spent on a RW) while Almiron and Murphy   are still expected to play and contribute on the right.

Schar is aging poorly; Dan Burn’s lack of pace is killing us; and Pope looks like Bambi on ice in rollerblades with the ball at his feet. They can all turn things around but so many are underperforming in the same team right now.

              3. Isak Will Come Good

I saw some comments online after the game along the lines of ‘if he doesn’t want to be here then sell him’. Give your head a shake if that was you. He is struggling and his greed when presented with a player in a much better position to tap it home to equalise was extremely poor, but with our backup striker being a professional crock what else are we supposed to do?

I still believe he is amongst the five best strikers in the league, and he will eventually rediscover his form but (despite scoring) the game should be remembered for his selfish miss. I repeat though: I still back him to come good.

               4. Huge Seven Days

And so, we have… Chelsea next at SJP in the League Cup on Wednesday. I will be there cheering the lads and Eddie on, willing them to win and kickstart our season, with the minute hope of finally ending our trophy drought still intact but I will remain critical, because it’s ok to criticise the things we love.

Followed up with Arsenal at 12:30 on Saturday. Ouch, it doesn’t get any easier. Unfortunately, it’s not a barometer of where we are anymore, they are miles above us now, but a win or a draw with a huge performance would go some way to clearing the gathering gloom.

Howay the Lads.