Current squad way short of level needed to stay up JOHNGIBSON
THE truth, however unpalatable, is that with half a season gone, Newcastle United are nowhere near good enough to stay in the Premier League.
I say it with a heavy heart but irrefutable facts stare us in the face. Whatever changes have occurred – and there have been plenty – the one that has to be changed above all others has not shifted one bit: United simply cannot win football matches.
We knew it on Saturday, they knew it, and everyone at a nervy St James’ Park knew it.
With only a couple of minutes remaining, United led but were nowhere near home and hosed. They were vulnerable in the extreme, even with the sands of time rapidly running out.
Not once this season have Newcastle enjoyed the comfort of a twogoal lead to calm jangling nerves and, sure enough, it was only 1-0 against a Watford side by now much more fluid than us on the counter.
Equally, all of a black and white persuasion fully realised that the Mags had only kept one clean sheet in 19 attempts. Simply put, they cannot do shut-outs.
Sure enough, a cross whipped in by Kiko Femenia saw Joao Pedro split two disorientated Newcastle defenders to outjump Jamaal Lascelles and lash a header past Martin Dubravka.
United had been asking for it. Only one shot on target all game at home and that was the goal in a match which was to be their lifeline.
Owners may change, managers may change, coaches may change, players may come in, but the same frailties remain.
Don’t score enough, always concede and cannot close out a game. Outcome: one paltry victory in 20 tries.
There are things that are inevitable in football... Steve Bruce was never going to crack it at Newcastle, Red Rafa was always going to be hounded out of town across the great divide of Stanley Park, and Newcastle cannot buy three points.
United have had more ‘must-win’ matches than hot dinners this season and won but one of them against Burnley.
If you regularly fail to take chances to beat those around you, then your fate is written in capital letters and while United must fight on through the second half of the season, it is going to take a mighty change of luck as well as personnel to avoid what is coming.
Quite frankly this squad is way, way, way short of what is required. It is frightening and probably there are too many holes to plug in one short transfer window.
The defence is awful – Lascelles cannot be the leader he is supposed to be because he is too worried about himself to rally others. He makes elementary mistakes time and again, fouls in a panic, and his passing is woeful.
His partner Fabian Schar may be decent on the ball but he is onepaced, regularly goes missing, and fails to do the simple basic things required of a central defender. His time is up as is that of Lascelles.
There has been absolutely no improvement in Newcastle defen
United have had more ‘must-win’ matches than hot dinners this season and won but one of them
sively since the change of management and that is frightening because without it avoiding the drop becomes an impossibility.
Defence is not said to be Eddie Howe’s strength but then he must find an answer or die by the sword.
Jonjo Shelvey has found his level again after an initial upsurge. From the first few minutes when he almost gave way a penalty, he was onepaced and ponderous when United needed quickening up.
There were some plusses – Kieran Trippier is head and shoulders above most around him, a quality player who must wonder what he has let himself in for, while Joelinton is a revelation in his midfield role as a powerbroker.
His battle-of-the-big-men with Moussa Sissoko was fascinating and the Brazilian won it. He is a breath of fresh air in a sterile environment.
Allan Saint-Maximin scored a
wonderful individual goal that perhaps only he can but otherwise he was a complete frustration obsessed with tricks and too many touches.
Of course, if he was consistently dynamic as on his strike and less annoying, he would not be here.
If you have a big unit like Chris Wood up top you must stick in crosses, preferably first time, and Saint-Maximin never once did that.
I worried about him out wide as a server to Wood for that very reason and felt he might be better suited more central just behind the big man to roam free and certainly Howe has a conundrum to solve with his new centre-forward.
This was not a debut to remember for the 30-year-old New Zealander and we have to hope for more when Wood visits his old club Leeds next up.
Another must-win at Elland Road? Really, this is getting beyond belief!