Passionless and gutless, Magpies are going down without fight
DIRE DISPLAY SETS ALARM BELLS RINGING
DEVOID of ideas, lacking passion and responsibility, and looking like a team blissfully unaware they are in a Premier League relegation battle – that is where Newcastle United are at the start of 2021.
Gutless, unwilling, abysmal and with only goalkeeper Karl Darlow to thank for keeping the score down, Newcastle need to take a long look at themselves in the mirror after this one.
This was supposed to be a night when Steve Bruce told his players the “gloves were off” but whatever his words of wisdom were before the game they must have gone straight into one ear and out of the other for the majority of his team.
For Arsenal conjured up 20 goal attempts and Newcastle managed ONE shot on target.
United rode their luck to go in at the break level against an Arsenal team which has had its own troubles this season.
The game descended into a training session for the home team in the second half as Newcastle threw the towel in.
In fact, they rolled over for the Gunners!
How can a team meekly accept being pushed around like this?
How can winning a corner not only produce no threat whatsoever apart from in their own final third?
As the game petered out at the Emirates Stadium in near silence, Bruce and his assistant stood side by side in the capital.
At the final whistle, some Toon players looked on in disbelief while others walked off expressionless – but the reality is they are going down unless something changes drastically.
Even with a facemask on, the whiff of relegation is in the air again at United.
Whoever’s “way” this was, it is simply not up to standard, not only for Newcastle United Football Club but for any team which genuinely harbours the ambition to stay in the top flight.
Bruce made eight changes to the side which had lost to Sheffield United so dismally last week and reverted to the 4-4-2 formation United had started the season with.
Only it barely made a difference on the night and you STILL wonder where the next win is coming from!
The Magpies had two early breaks out wide as Miguel Almiron played a ball into the box which Bernd Leno claimed easily before Emil Krafth then found space on the same righthand flank but scuffed his cross out of play.
It was Arsenal who had the first real glimpse of goal on 15 minutes when Bukayo Saka got free down the right and crossed into the box, Darlow saving with his feet.
Arsenal skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang followed up but his shot clipped the upright and Newcastle survived the scare. It took United until the 24th minute to threaten the Arsenal goal when Almiron made a positive break down the right before cutting into the final third.
The Paraguay international tried to get the ball to Carroll but his pass was poor and the striker played the ball back to him before Almiron clipped the ball over the bar.
Newcastle survived a VAR check for a possible handball by Jamal Lewis inside the box but, despite the protests from Mikel Arteta, the incident was dismissed.
On 27 minutes, Emile Smith-Rowe slipped in Aubameyang but he whipped his effort over the crossbar and Newcastle survived again.
Newcastle failed to manage a shot on target in the first half and even when Jonjo Shelvey did whip in their only corner of the opening 45 minutes he could not beat the first man.
The half ended with Darlow scooping another Aubameyang effort to safety as Arsenal had 67% possession in the first period.
The home side picked up where they left off in the first half, Lacazette immediately testing Darlow after Matty Longstaff failed to get a block in.
The former Lyon star’s powerful effort was tipped away by Darlow before the danger was swept clear.
However, with 50 minutes gone the Magpies managed to concede a goal from their own corner.
Arsenal cleared their lines after Shelvey’s corner did not beat the first man again and Thomas Partey’s ball over the top found Aubameyang on the left.
With Krafth the last man, he tried
to jockey the ex-Borussia Dortmund star, but he simply picked his spot and fired beyond Darlow for his second goal against Newcastle in nine days.
Newcastle responded by winning a free-kick – Shelvey’s set-piece found Callum Wilson but his header went straight into the hands of Leno.
With 56 minutes played Carroll cracked a shot in from the edge of the area but it was well wide and never really troubled Leno.
Arsenal doubled their lead on the hour mark when SmithRowe brushed off Jamaal Lascelles and crossed for Saka, who squeezed the ball beneath Ciaran Clark before beating Darlow.
The shots continued to rain in on Darlow’s goal and he spared United another blow when keeping out Lacazette’s header before Bruce made his first change of the game.
Winger Jacob Murphy replaced
Carroll after the striker had been starved of any type of service in the 69 minutes he had tried to spearhead the Toon attack.
Yet the change made no difference as Arsenal continued to dictate play, and the game was ended as a contest on 77 minutes. Cedric Soares broke free down the right and just kept the ball in play before slotting a fine ball to the feet of Aubameyang, who grabbed his second. Bruce turned to midfielder Jeff Hendrick for the closing stages as he replaced Matty Longstaff. Youngster Elliot Anderson was handed his Premier League debut but it was all too little, too late.
The game had gone and Newcastle are kidding themselves if they believe they are in anything other than a straight fight for Premier League safety.
How can a team meekly accept being pushed around like this? Whoever’s ‘way’ this was, it isn’t up to standard