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!
You simply can’t build a squad of runners (largely), then sign Woltemade, then start him up top on his own, and therefore drop the press/fast football/intensity/identity.
Either build a more versatile squad or don’t. But if you don’t, you can’t drop the identity.
Where is chance creation going to come from in games where there isn’t much space? Either have creative/technical/flair players for those games or press. This team has been doing neither all season, pretty much.
Slow, flat, predictable, easy-to-defend-against, boring football… unless the opposition leaves a lot of space for the wingers.
Howe out(Quote)
I’ll let others do the proper analysis. The short version was Shi te. The advice going forward is be less Shi te. At least cup is going well. Champion’s League is still decent too, so it’s not like they can’t do it.
One Word(Quote)
I wonder if the set piece debacle is symptomatic of wider challenges?
For years we have been unable to do offensive corners. But how has it got worse since bringing in a specialist? I quite enjoy our approach of now trying to score directly from corners…but it’s quite an embarrassing statement of last resort. And why are we trying to do long throw ins if we don’t have anyone who can actually throw it long enough?
As we have more and more games, and therefore less training time – our approach to training, tactics and squad management has to be really elite. The early signs are not great.
Is this a Howe issue? Is he too hands on and a key person dependency for everything? I have no idea, but I hope Wilson is the right person to diagnose/identify/support/challenge the status quo to ensure we are structurally geared to succeed.
Howe the toon(Quote)
I’ve said from the start Woltemade is a dud – essentially a 6’6, 5-a side player who has some nice touches but also has no pace, no aggression, does not compete in the air and very little movement to receive the ball.
He might well be a decent finisher but unless someone lays a chance on a plate then he’ll not create anything himself, he just gets caught with the ball at his feet.
Anyone who has played CH will look at him and think ‘ there’s not much to be worried about there’.
Can’t believe we splurged all the Isak money on him and Elanga – not a player between them.
HeedTheBaal(Quote)
My concern is at seems that Eddie is good when he is only playing one game a week but struggles when he doesn’t have the same preparation time.
This season away other than Villa we haven’t played any of the big boys yet we have set up like we are playing prime Barca away, far too deep and no intensity, it’s no wonder Gordon & Elanga have been dreadful, their starting points are just in front of our FB’s.
Yes you have to respect the opposition but Eddie too concerned about not getting beat and his tactics concede possession to our opponents and ultimately we will concede and then is no plan B its always like for like subs.
IMO Eddie gets rest of the season but if there is no improvement then big decisions need made in Summer.
David(Quote)
At the risk of repeating myself over and over again Howe is tactically inept,even when he isn’t under pressure. He is picking the wrong starting team, substitutions are either too late or totally incomprehensible. PIF will NOT keep him much longer.
Peter Beaumont(Quote)
The decision to play our two left wingers midweek (didn’t work playing Barnes on the right) was a head scratcher, when it would be seemingly far more logical to keep one of them fresh for the Sunderland game.
Despite that (and other critiques), Howe is obviously not inept. But he does seem to be balancing factors that as a fan aren’t relatable. Loyalty, fairness and keeping players onside is clearly important, but can that be balanced with an ethos of intensity? Ie “I am resting you today because I need you tomorrow?” I would love to see a bit more clarity on what we are aiming for though, do we still want to be an intensity driven team? While Howe is good at sidestepping defending the indefensible, he unfortunately doesn’t state for the fans what the real ‘criteria’/demand is.
Howe the toon(Quote)