Well. How’s everybody feeling?
Let me begin by saying, derby day defeats are nothing new. They’ve happened before, they will happen again. On Sunday, there were no dodgy refereeing decisions, no gripes or complaints The defeat was all on us.
After such results I’ve never been one for hiding both my opinions or my presence.
I was in the pub after the game on Sunday and I will front it out again as this week goes on. Even in the likely presence of mackem dwellers. They will be there, you can bet on it.
It’s also important to point out, for better or worse, Sunderland didn’t have to be particularly good to beat Newcastle United and they weren’t. But they did just enough to hang on crucially at just a goal down until half-time and prepare for our now almost customary second half collapse.
Whether they had done their research and noted this and used it as a tactic I don’t know, but that they were allowed to come on strong and be allowed the freedom of St James Park for 45 minutes was as criminal, as it was predictable.
Hand on heart, did any Newcastle United fan NOT see the second mackem goal coming?
I remarked at the time that as soon as Sunderland equalised, we were unlikely to win the game. It was just a case of if time could run out and only a pretty dismal point achieved from a promising first half. It’s a shame our manager and players didn’t see it coming but let me be clear, a draw wouldn’t have been good enough either.
Worryingly, pre-game I was actually pretty confident. It usually backfires when I’m like that but why wouldn’t you be? Player for player I wouldn’t swap for a rival Sunderland counterpart. Mackems might not like that, but I wouldn’t, this makes the performance in the second half all the more damning.
Our goal was plain stupidity from the opposition and they continued to play out from the back after conceding, which I found strange, yet we didn’t capitalise on it. Even the most rose-tinted of the red and whites probably thought it would now turn into a long afternoon and that the score could end up three or four. That’s NOT being disrespectful. Top sides do that.
Well I’ll tell you what, to their credit, the players in blue didn’t think that way. More’s the pity that the players in black and white didn’t, even though they should have.
Where’s the attitude from two seasons ago?
The Newcastle United side from that period would have sorted this Sunderland result out in the first half. That sort of mentality is no longer there and it’s been replaced by “If we score, sit back and defend the lead” as opposed to “Score, then kill the game off” and there is one glaring reason and I will come back to it in a bit.
No team has a divine right to win a football match but what I don’t want to see is this side go from mentally strong League Cup Winners to bottlers, in the space of exactly 12 months.
Of the opposition, what’s more to say?
A workmanlike Sunderland side missing a couple of their few big hitters, on the day playing functional football. They (including their fans) probably couldn’t believe their luck the longer the second half went on. They were probably also astonished that we seemed intent on settling for what we had, at 1-0.
What happens in the dressing room at half-time? What happens when we take the lead? A one goal lead is NEVER enough in ANY game of football and that was why the longer it went on, the more blatantly obvious what was going to happen.
Our players, booed off at full-time by some Newcastle United fans, have now seen what happens when stagnation and subsequent failure breeds. Let’s hope the ownership also take note.
Last summer still hangs heavy on this club and it’s on that which Eddie Howe still has mitigating circumstances to fall back on, as legitimate reasons for this season’s failures and a claim for retaining his job.
If a club goes into a summer transfer window with no Chief Executive Officer working, with no Sporting Director, then expects everything to run smoothly, it’s kidding itself. That’s nothing to do with Eddie Howe.
The vast financial clout of other big clubs also must be taken into consideration.
When a transfer target can ask for and get double the wages we can pay, from another bidder, you can’t then go and blame the manager. And it’s on that where I come back to the most valid point from Sunday’s defeat and the seeds were sown once again, last summer. And it had nothing to do with Eddie Howe. Instead, a turncoat striker.
I only want to touch on Alexander Isak briefly because it’s all in the past and been done to death, but I think it’s important to stress that if he (or any other credible striker) was on the pitch on Sunday, we win that game. But then again, that has been the story of our season. I think we have set up this season to be less attacking, more patient, defensive and harder to beat.
It’s brilliant when it works like down at Chelsea and Spurs but it’s not a tactic I want to see going forward into next season as it’s high risk. It relies on the fundamental basis of “We WILL keep a clean sheet without fail.” Our defence isn’t capable of that.
In particular, Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier are looking every day of their 33 and 35 years at the minute and as sad as it sounds, both need to be phased out and probably should have been this season. Both have been brilliant servants for this club but time has caught up. If still here they’ll be 34 and 36 respectively by the end of September. It’s a debate for another day but once again, the club must get this summer’s transfer window right. That is also NOT the fault of Eddie Howe. It should NOT be all on his shoulders like it appeared to be last summer.
Whilst reshaping our squad next season in the defensive department is important, our number one priority is getting a clinical striker, as I’m of the opinion we have wasted £100m+ on Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade. Maybe the poll on The Mag should be titled “Would you take £100m for both players if offered it now?”
Sunday’s defeat seemed born from the fact that Eddie Howe and his coaches don’t trust whichever forward line they select to go and score many goals and that a sound defence is needed. Personally, I’m seeing neither a potent attack, nor solid defence.
The mackems, to their credit, had enough about them to manage both and to our shame, we didn’t do either.
If Newcastle United are to avoid another middling campaign, between boardroom and manager’s office, that is what needs to be provided for a change for next season.