Sorry Nev, but
WHAT CHRIS WAUGH LEARNED FROM THE DEFEAT TO CITIZENS
CHAMPIONS-ELECT Manchester City extended their record-breaking league-winning run by defeating Newcastle United 1-0 at St James’ Park.
The Magpies were thoroughly outplayed during the first half on Tyneside as Rafa Benitez set his side up to contain the Citizens.
Raheem Sterling’s 31st-minute strike ultimately proved to be the difference between the two teams but Benitez will have been pleased by how his Magpies side fought back during the second half and almost nicked a draw.
The defeat keeps Newcastle in 15th place in the Premier League table, just one point above the relegation zone and with two huge games coming up in the next five days.
Here, NUFC writer Chris Waugh takes us through what we learned...
Given Newcastle are playing four times inside 10 days, and this was the second of those matches, Benitez was always going to rotate his side.
However, even by the Spaniard’s standards, this team was one of the more surprising he has selected as Magpies manager.
While the XI at West Ham United at the weekend saw injury-enforced changes, the same could not be said against Man City.
Henri Saivet – who scored in east London and put in a largely-tidy display, one glaring mistake aside – was not even named on the bench, Jonjo Shelvey returning to the line-up after the completion of his twogame suspension.
Paul Dummett also made his first appearance since the opening day of the season but not at left-back as expected – instead, he was one of three centre-halves in a 5-4-1 formation. Jamaal Lascelles also started while Chancel Mbemba surprisingly usurped Ciaran Clark for a place in the XI, given Florian Lejeune was still absent through injury.
There was also no Matt Ritchie, Dwight Gayle or Christian Atsu in the starting line-up either – with Jacob Murphy and Rolando Aarons, who scored at the Etihad in a 2-0 League Cup victory over the Citizens in October 2014, instead named on either wing.
Clearly Benitez was looking for a strong defensive unit given he named five at the back, while Murphy and Aarons were in the side to provide pace and invention on the break.
Yet, given the bench featured Ritchie, Clark, Gayle, Mikel Merino, Atsu and Ayoze Perez, it seems likely Benitez’s selection was partly motivated by a desire to prioritise upcoming matches against fellow strugglers Brighton and Hove Albion and Stoke City.
No Newcastle fan will blame the Spaniard for that; a defeat was to be expected against a side who are creating history this year and the Magpies’ manager knows the next two games will play a far bigger part in determining United’s destiny this term. No Newcastle fan wants to see their side fail to launch an attack of note during the first 30 minutes of a home match. Yet this must be put into context. Man City headed into this game having won a record 17 top-flight games in succession and having scored 60 goals in just 19 matches. Only Everton had taken points off the Citizens so far this season and 18 other managers had failed to unearth a tactic to defeat this Man City team.
Benitez decided to go for the safety-first approach – one which Gary Neville during his commentary on Sky Sports labelled the “mostnegative 30 minutes I have ever seen from a side in the Premier League”.
Inside the first 15 minutes, the visitors had 87 per cent possession; by the interval, it was still 83 per cent
Newcastle did not launch an attack of note until Sterling had given the visitors the lead but let us remember the Magpies’ starting line-up cost barely a fifth of that of their opponents.
The reality is United cannot compete against Man City at the moment – you could get the same odds for the visitors to win 6-0 as you could for Newcastle to triumph 1-0 before the match – and so Benitez was trying to limit the damage during the