That is what is so galling about this run of defeats...

14 Jan 2024

The Mag

Newcastle 2 Manchester City 3 - That is what is so galling about this run of defeats...

Another defeat. Another late goal and another anguished last fifteen minutes, perhaps extended to half an hour in the case of the world champions, in which we hang on in quiet desperation but to no avail.

From the Parc de Princes, to the stadia straddling Stanley Park, Stamford Bridge and at the once impervious St James Park, we have shipped too many late goals on this awful run that save for some much needed respite coming a week ago on Wearside, represents a hole that we just seem incapable of digging ourselves out of.

Our salvation might still come in the form of a decent FA Cup run, but if we continue to populate the bench with players that Eddie seems incapable of trusting, what odds on that pipedream going down the pan during the last quarter of an hour in SW6 in a fortnight’s time?

We all know why the starting eleven are running on empty when games reach their finale, so it’s the lack of options, or Eddie’s lack of faith in those he names as substitutes that is costing us, just as much as it is the lads who are knackered and have given their absolute all.

Leading 2-1 at the interval, having weathered an initial storm but then buoyed by an exquisite two minutes, that saw both Alex Isak and Anthony Gordon skin England’s full back to curl unstoppable shots past City’s replacement keeper, I still thought emerging unscathed at the end of ninety minutes with our lead intact would be the tallest of orders.

And so it proved, both of City’s goals, enough to see them over the line at 3-2, scored by fresh legs, with one of those Guardiola introduced able to lay claim to being one of the best midfielders ever to grace the Premier League.

With yesterday’s game played out in what is now such predictable fashion, I can’t understand why Eddie didn’t deploy more than Lewis Hall from the bench when he replaced an absolutely knackered Anthony Gordon, but even then, not until the 86th minute when the intent was perhaps less about what Hall could offer, and more about disrupting City’s ominous progress towards the killer third goal.

I totally get that Eddie’s options were extremely limited, but even as the board was about to go up indicating three additional minutes, the introduction of Matt Ritchie to harry and harass, or Jamal Lascelles to add another body to bolster our backline, just might have been enough to disrupt matters again, to run down the clock and possibly secure what would have been a morale boosting as well as an energy sapping point.

Although the world champions dominated possession and clocked up more than double the amount of shots we had, both the on target as well as off target variety, our starting eleven more than demonstrated that we were capable of competing and if the game had lasted 60 minutes, I’m pretty sure we could have won.

That is what’s so galling about this run of defeats.

Cast your mind back to the opening day. Aston Villa came to St James with the media gushing in their praise, widely touted as this season’s version of last season’s Newcastle United, and as of today, they sit handily placed to secure Champions League football next season. However, let’s not forget, they left St James’ Park totally battered, conceding five in a rout that had us all believing that for NUFC, this season could be even better than last.

That day, our back five was the same back five that had been the joint meanest defence in the league in the previous campaign.

Our midfield contained Sandro Tonali, a £55 million recruit from Milan, who scored on his debut and was playing alongside two seasoned Brazilian internationals.

Up top, we had a fit and resplendent looking Alexander Isak who plundered two goals, with Anthony Gordon, and the European U21s Championship medal he’d spent the summer working so hard to acquire tucked in his shorts, blazing a trail down the left and creator of the Tonali goal.

From the bench, Eddie introduced no less than five very good players, all capable of doing a job. Calum Wilson, who scored our fourth, was joined by Elliot Anderson, Sean Longstaf and Jacob Murphy who craftily assited Harvey Barnes, £38 million of talent who grabbed our fifth, also on his debut, before firing an arrow into the Strawberry Corner.

My point? On our day, we can beat anyone but its a squad game and we surely cannot continue to place reliance on a method that didn’t work in Paris, London or Liverpool and that didn’t work yesterday.

What’s the answer? Save for the walking wounded all returning in the next fortnight, the next best thing is for Ashworth and Eales to turn their attention to the January window but with FFP restrictions and a set of accounts that’s led to poppycock about the need to offload, rather than recruit prized assets, securing some much needed respite from the transfer market looks as unlikely as Joe Willock scoring the winner at Craven Cottage.

Being the supposed richest club on the planet, but having to work within the FFP straitjacket, is reminiscent of the old saying, “Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink” and it’s frustrating the hell out of me.

As an aside, I briefly met two fellow regular contributors to the Mag up in Level 7 yesterday, Greg McPeake and his son, Chuks. Greg explained that Chuks was planning on writing up his match day experience and I am very looking forward to reading his contribution later. HTL

Stats via BBC Sport:

Newcastle 2 Manchester City 3 – Saturday 13 January 2024 5.30pm:

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Isak 35, Gordon 37

Man City:

Bernardo Silva 26, De Bruyne 74, Bobb 90+1

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Man City 73% (69%) Newcastle 27% (31%)

Total shots were Man City 27 (11) Newcastle 12 (7)

Shots on target were Man City 11 (3) Newcastle 5 (3)

Corners were Man City 13 (5) Newcastle 3 (2)