Magpies were United in approach to Brighton –
THE defeat at Brighton was bitterly disappointing. I was really looking forward to seeing Newcastle United on the south coast – but it just didn’t really happen for us.
I don’t know whether the players had started to believe the hype of them being in the top four or what, but I just thought they were too stand-offish.
Perhaps Rafa Benitez had tactically set United up like that, I’m not sure, but the whole team under-performed.
Newcastle barely conjured up a clear-cut chance, Joselu’s aside, and that is the fault of the entire team, not just the Spaniard.
And, although he should have got that shot on target at the very least, I did feel a little bit for Joselu given some of the criticism afterwards.
It’s not like his team-mates had created four or five opportunities for him. That was the only one that fell his way on Sunday. The problem Joselu has is that he missed a few golden chances the weekend before – so obviously they sprung to mind straight away when he put that one round the far post.
I wrote in this very column last week that whenever I missed chances, I would put even more effort in on the training ground the following week. You have to practise until finishing becomes such a natural reflex that you do not miss the next opportunity.
And I think he will be given another