Newcastle United drew 0-0 with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday in what was an incredibly drab display. Not having a shot on target until beyond the 70th minute against a side who could still end the season as the worst in Premier League history is, frankly, unacceptable by anyone’s standard.
And with some incredibly tough games upcoming this very much felt like two points dropped in our pursuit of the top five.
Here is one good(ish) and three bad from the game:
Bad: Absolutely toothless
United are completely lacking any end product at the moment. Despite creating some decent openings, the lads never really looked like scoring, as the standard of finishing was dreadful.
Two shots on target across the entire game against one of the worst sides to ever grace the Premier League, despite an apparent “uptick” in their form (and remember they were starting from an incredibly low bar), is poor, and shows just what happens when you lose a world class striker and your wingers (Barnes aside) are criminally out of form too.
Woltemade and Wissa are so short of form that you would feel a fit Osula would be getting minutes in their place at the minute. And with some huge games to come, things are unlikely to get any easier away from home.
Good(ish): 10 from 12
Some will call this clutching at straws and I’m pretty sure I agree with them but considering the position we were in before this recent run of ten points in twelve, United have put themselves back in position to at least challenge for a European place via the league.
Without this run we’d be nowhere, so this mini run was vital, and despite it probably being two points short of what it should’ve been, we’ve managed to get some results from some thrilling moments in games we haven’t played all that well in.
Clutching, like a said, but it’s the only reason we’re not marooned in lower mid table, and if other teams continue to be as inconsistent as we have been this season, and we can just hang in there then maybe we can finish in one of those coveted top five spots come the end of the season.
Bad: No ability to change the game from the bench
It has been commented on occasions this season that we have a stronger bench then we’ve ever had under Eddie’s tenure, but performances like that from the bench flies in the face of those statements.
Any squad needs options from the bench if things aren’t going well and we just don’t seem to have any options that can change a game. Elanga, Wissa, and Miley just offered more of the same with the changes being like for like.
Shifting Barnes to the left was academic as he doesn’t deserve to be shoved out of position in the first place, Elanga was marginally better than he has been recently but that’s another really low bar, and Miley looked like a young man who has played the last eleven games in a row and offered very little.
But why, in an era of five subs, especially when things aren’t working against such a poor side, surely you should go to your bench again and use Ramsey or give Neave a go? It can’t hurt surely to just give something a go.
Bad: If the patterns aren’t working, why aren’t they changed?
United had a 94% pass completion rate in the first half which was the highest by any team without having a shot on target since 2003/04. The patterns of play were almost exclusively sideways with every player basically requiring three touches before making a pass which slowed down the play to such an extent that Wolves were always back in position to comfortably defend the attack.
The same patterns of play, mixed with out of form players, are making us basically unwatchable at times, and it was summed up by a poor Wolves side looking much more dangerous than us by the simple virtue of trying to move the ball quicker and playing on the counter.
To be clear, I’m not for a moment suggesting we should’ve played on the counter against that Wolves side (as that would’ve brought its own level of criticism) but you just can’t always be so prescriptive with your patterns of play, tactics et al, when you just don’t have the personnel who will succeed playing that way.
Also, the fact that we seem unable to maintain any sustained pressure on opponents, allows the simplest of gameplans to be effective against us, and honestly, you’d have found more excitement and quality under a rock than United produced on Sunday.
Anyway, we move on to PSV on Wednesday, and we will need to perform a hell of a lot better to, hopefully, secure out place in the next stage of the Champions League.
Keep the faith. HWTL
You really said it all in 1 sentence in the 1st section.
This is what happens when you lose a world class finisher.
Last season we win that game.
Wednesday night….last season we are 1 up in 5 minutes.
We can look at it until we sick of looking, but the fact is the 2 guys we Brought in are not in the same league as the one who left.
Yes there are 1 or 2 other niggly issues, but the above is simply at the centre of it all.
Scott(Quote)
I agree Scott, if we had an isak quality striker then we would likely win that game and many others this season.
That said, it does paper over the cracks. As at times with Isak we could be pretty useless and terrible in ball retention and controlling the game (Isak’s hold up play was abysmal…although Wolte isn’t any better yet…if he can bulk up then he would be a lot better though).
And the unfortunate reality is we have rather blown our load on Wolte and Wissa and don’t seem likely to bring in a top class striker any time soon. So different tweaks need to be found/made.
Howe the toon(Quote)
Let’s not forget the cartel restraints we have to put up with. We were also left short by the antics of one of the septic 6 playing a game of no lose by dragging out one transfer by not meeting valuation while the press would have had a field day on the weakness spin if we had caved in and sold early and had enough time to spend more time looking for alternatives.
Look at city they’ve bought Semenyo no problem in the Jan window as they aren’t constrained by ffp. People reluctant to sell blah blah. Money talks and I bet he is on a huge wage.
That said we should have had a number of alternatives before we started with the ones we didn’t get. We dodged a couple of bullets in my view as well. Not highlighted by the established press. One of them has a recurring hamstring issue. At a young age not good and another seems just not good enough. And of course the one that left has is out injured for months as well. We could have had two of these and where would we be now?
That said perhaps leaning to playing to players strengths rather than to the system doggedly may be needed to get the best out of them.
Agree that the young lad on the bench who has scored goals for fun should have been given a go with10 mins left.
I also think it’s time that our coaches note what other teams are doing to break the strangle hold of possession the top teams have managed to develop in recent years by kicking up and unders into their half which aren’t easy for sweeper keepers to deal with and often has defenders having to turn and face their own goals or head it or boot it themselves.
The little birdy(Quote)
Agreed.
We haven’t had good ball retention, even during much better times, but we have often got the job done mainly down to grit, along with having a world class striker.
We don’t have the players for ball retention. There is not the movement or invention. One of my biggest bug bears is the Bruno/tonali thing. They never play well together and I believe they are capable of doing so. It has to come down to instruction.
Scott(Quote)
Spot on on both your comments.
Even Howe said the whole team was set up for him, we get Ekitike or even Pedro and it’s a shoe in replacement and it’s a different story. Unfortunately we didn’t get either.
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
The problem is not woltemade ., Germanys centre forward! or wissa.,Who Scored more than Isak last season in open play ., it’s Howes inability to find a plan and a set up that works.. the players are not suddenly poor it’s Howe’s struggles with tactics , strategy and formation.. I also think they wasted money on elanga and Ramsey .. howe’s prem ready players £100 million 🙈
Mike(Quote)
Wow so great@plants vs brainrots
dhajaa(Quote)
Elanga is a great player playing in a team that sit back and hits teams on the counter, he’s the perfect outlet as he proved at Forest the problem is we don’t play like that.
I said it at the time that his signing was a strange one and he wasn’t my first or second choice for that matter.
I believe Ramsey will come good he’s already shown he’s a better option than Willock the concern with him is he seems to not be able to last 90 minutes and he’s made of glass.
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
Sad news about David Young rip a bit before my time but one my dad and grandad knew all about.
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
I would like to see us go for players like Oscar Bobb (admittedly his injury record is a concern which could rule him out).
That would hopefully strike a balance between upgrading our squad players with a higher calibre younger players who have the potential to either become first choice players or get some resale value.
Of course in the future these would hopefully come through our youth ranks but in the interim we need plug the gaps.
Howe the toon(Quote)