GOAL-SHY NEWCASTLE HAVE THAT REEK OF RELEGATION
IN December of 2015, Sportsmail wrote that Newcastle United were sleepwalking towards the Championship. Come May, they were relegated. The point then was that no one inside the club was awake to the threat of going down — be that the deluded manager Steve McClaren, the players or the board. Four years on and you suspect they are just as oblivious to the danger of demotion. They shouldn’t be. Why? Teams who don’t score goals don’t win games. This reality has only been delayed by a series of head-scratching victories that arrived more by luck than design. Amid a subsequent run of one win in 10, Saturday’s stalemate was a fourth straight match without a goal, equalling an unwanted Premier League record set by McClaren’s ill-fated vintage. And here is the concern — this was the best they have played since before Christmas. That, though, was still not enough for those who booed at full time. Later, as they watched Watford beat Liverpool in the pubs around St James’ Park, talk turned to relegation. How, between head coach Steve Bruce, chief scout Steve Nickson, managing director Lee Charnley and owner Mike Ashley they deemed that signing a striker in January was unnecessary stinks of negligence, incompetence or perhaps both. Bruce (below) declared there was no point bringing in a forward no better than what he has. He was reminded he had nothing to start with, given that his only fit option was £40million flop Joelinton, now six months without a league goal. Newcastle thought they were OK, happily drifting towards presumed safety on the back of what they failed to realise as unsustainable form. Sleep-walking, you might call it. NEWCASTLE (4-2-3-1): Dubravka 6; Manquillo 6, Fernandez 6, Lascelles 6, Rose 6; Hayden 6, Shelvey 6.5; Ritchie 6.5, ALMIRON 7, Joelinton 6.5 (Saint-Maximin 77, 6); Gayle 6.5. Subs not used: Schar, Lejeune, Yedlin, Darlow, S Longstaff, Bentaleb. Booked: Rose, Gayle, Shelvey, Manquillo. Manager: Steve Bruce 6. BURNLEY (4-4-2): Pope 6.5; Bardsley 6, Tarkowski 7, Mee 6.5, Taylor 6; Hendrick 5.5, Cork 6, Westwood 6, McNeil 6; Vydra 5 (Wood 58, 7), Rodriguez 6. Subs not used: Brownhill, Brady, Hart, Pieters, Lennon, Long. Booked: Bardsley, Tarkowski, Mee. Manager:
Sean Dyche 6. Referee:
A Madley 6. Att: 52, 219.