Monday is always a struggle, the start of the working week for most, school runs for the parents amongst us. At least this particular Monday we had the excitement of a Newcastle United tussle with relegation threatened Coventry City to look forward to.
A win would put Newcastle United in fourth.
For a team in transition with an abundance of inexperienced players and a new manager, that would be a tremendous achievement after six Premier League games.
The Mag published an article in advance of this Sky Blues game, warning us all not to get too excited. In 30 matches contested away from home on a Monday night, spanning a period of 24 years, we’d picked up just the four victories.
This season, our other Monday encounter saw us get a humbling at Elland Road. But not to worry. Coventry had lost their first four EPL games (before winning at Forest) and only scored one all season. Fourth place here we come…
What transpired at the CBS Arena was one of the most frustrating Newcastle United performances I can remember in a long time. It’s one of the most frustrating because there were so many individual elements that wound me up.
In the first half, the linesman appeared to completely forget that he was supposed to allow marginal offside calls to go. He put his flag up at least four times in situations that weren’t clear. The first of which saw Matias Fernandez-Pardo break free on the left hand side. I went back and paused the action so I could conduct a personal VAR review and found that two defenders were definitely playing him onside whilst a third was tight. MFP was in a promising position with players racing in support. Sure, judging by the rest of his performance, there is every chance that the Belgian would have fluffed his lines, but he should have been granted the opportunity to do so at least.
There were more of these moments, one of which was Murphy who was definitely offside, but the other couple were tighter. It was infuriating as we were playing against a high line and were trying to pump balls to stretch that defence, with our attackers clearly instructed to be on the shoulder of the last man. With the appalling officiating, it made this avenue ineffective as we never got the benefit of the doubt. I can only assume someone had a word with the linesman as he let a lot more go in the second half, including some blatant ones, like when Barnes went through and we all thought he may have got a penalty but he was actually far more clearly offside than any of those first half incidents.
The referee had some moments of his own. The worst of which being when Willock was brought down at the start of the second half. Whilst the commentary team debated whether VAR could see the defender as the last man and recommend a red card review (not that I thought it was a red but it was a definite foul), instead the official gave the ball back to the keeper as a drop ball and ordered Willock off the pitch. Seconds later we were 2-0 down. Thanks ref!
The worst of his transgressions, however, came from his best bit of play. Indisputably (even by the woeful linesman’s standards) onside as Nico clipped a lofted through ball. MFP got ahead of Bobby Thomas, shrugged him aside and was one on one with the keeper. The keeper was on the penalty spot, MFP on the edge of the box. Most natural finishers are taking that opportunity. High or low, if you put it either side of the keeper, you should find the net. He does something old school and goes round the goalie. No problem with this, we don’t see enough of that these days. But once he was clear, he doesn’t look up. He blindly strikes it at the middle of the goal to the one area the recovering defender, Thomas, is now inhabiting. The commentators showered praise on the defender and full credit to him for getting back. However, had a striker been in that position and the goalkeeper was on the line, you’d make the attacker favourite. Less than 12 yards out, on his stronger foot albeit going slightly away from goal, up against a guy that can’t use his hands, that should be a goal all day. Again, had he any composure he could even have dummied a strike, sent Thomas charging the wrong way and then rolled the ball into an empty net. To compound this, the ball came directly back to MFP, who had a simple five yard pass to Barnes on. Instead, he panicked and played it straight to their defender, allowing them to clear again. This chance had been just before half time. I think if we go in level, we come out as winners.
I was surprised MFP was still on the pitch for the second half, although you wouldn’t know it. He seemed to be shunted out to the left for large periods and barely touched the ball, inexplicably remaining on for the entire match.
This isn’t meant to be a hatchet piece on our new signing and there were some other poor performances. I don’t think our defence and keeper deserve much credit. Plenty of other players had good opportunities they didn’t take including Barnes and Wissa, who I’d consider two of our most natural finishers. I just don’t know why he’s in that position and why he continues to play game after game despite showing nothing to justify this decision.
The one place I’d say we have strength in depth is midfield. We have Nico, Miley, Steur, Joelinton, Willock, Ramsey and Bamba that are all senior players that can play in that increasingly maligned midfield two. I would argue that Barnes, Willock, Ramsey and Steur could all play in the number 10 (and apparently MFP can too). Yet the most expensive striker in our squad is dropping into number 10, our most effective number 10 so far this season, was pushed back into an 8, whilst MFP lead the line.
I think our gaffer needs to seriously rethink our formation and use of personnel. That’s the second 4-1 thumping of the season. Against Leeds we were outplayed and outmuscled. An experienced side completely dominated against our youthful set up.
I think away from home, that midfield two looks dicey and having a natural striker as the number 10 makes us even less solid in the middle. We’ve lost two and won one with MFP starting. He’s contributed no goals or assists. I appreciate we’ve had injuries but with players coming back in, I will be seriously questioning Jaissle’s judgement if the Belgian leads the line against Villa.
Our old boss used to blood players before allowing them to start games. That opportunity hasn’t been there for Matthias Jaissle due to amount of churn in the summer. However, it simply has to be Osula or Wissa upfront in the next match. I’m confident MFP will come good. He’s clearly got raw talent, much like Osula showed in his early days. Like Osula though, there’s plenty he needs to work on. He may come good in the next few games, maybe later in the season. For now, he should be content with cameo appearances until he shows he’s got enough about him to be starting games. Especially if he’s leading the line. As much as I appreciate his graft, speed and strength, it’s all useless if you consistently make the wrong decision once you get the ball in a promising position. For now, MFP is far from our MVP.
Post-match, pundits and neutrals are giving full credit to Coventry and lauding their performance. Personally, I don’t think Coventry deserve much credit at all. Other than taking their few chances well, we dominated them for long stretches and all the conversation should be about our deficiencies and how we let them get away with their own woeful showing.
We had more than double the shots, more than double the completed passes, more than double the touches in the box, nearly double the XG, triple the corners! Yet somehow we ended the game 4-1 losers.
I don’t subscribe to the theory that we’re mired in a relegation battle already. However, impotent displays like last night’s and embarrassing ones like the Leeds affair, make me fear a fight for Europe may not be on the cards either. This team is young and will continue to improve and grow though.
Credit: Newcastle United FC
In Sean Steur I genuinely think we’ve got one of the best future central midfielders in the world. In Hall, despite his early years, we’ve got one of the best left backs in the country already. So many of our other better players (Thiaw, Dedic, Nico, Miley, Osula) are aged 26 or younger and will continue to grow and improve. Then we’ve got loads of raw talent to work too. I think come the end of the year we’ll be in that upper mid-table picture.
Hopefully the teams in Europe start to drop off as the season progresses (admittedly half of them are already doing badly) and we can leapfrog some of those to clinch a spot on the Europa League or Conference League. I think it is important that we are in Europe next year and realistically I think the lesser competitions would actually be perfect for our progression. There is the financial benefit of being in Europe but it would also give us ample opportunity to rotate and let more of our younger players try and prove themselves. How bad must Aladji Bamba be in training? Just the 27 minutes of football for him in the league this season and no showings against lower league opposition in the cup. How vital could 90 minutes against Jagiellonia Bialystok be for the development of players like Bamba and Toure as well as many others?
We’ve only got two more Premier League games before our next Monday night instalment. This one is at home at least, against Everton. We need to solve a lot of problems before then to ensure we start the week on a high.