Sky really was the limit for an angry Lascelles
TOON CAPTAIN RIGHT TO BLAST TV PUNDITS
A WEEK today Newcastle are off to Manchester City when, according to most, they will take Hadrian’s Wall with them on the team coach. United and Rafa Benitez were panned by the great and not so great for doing more than park the bus when City’s unbeatable juggernaut came to SJP recently. So what will they do down there? Build a wall across the 18-yard line? I felt the criticism of Newcastle’s tactics here was well over the top. What was expected? That United should be gung-ho and lose 5-0 in the interests of entertainment? No, a one-goal defeat did little harm to the Magpies’ goal difference and left them in the game until the 90th minute with the chance of nicking a point. They almost did exactly that through Dwight Gayle. The barrage of abuse was led by Sky’s two outspoken pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher. I feel they can be entertaining but on this occasion went well beyond the call of duty and ridiculed all in black and white. It riled United skipper Jamaal Lascelles, who has been unable to bite his tongue any longer - and on the eve of the return fixture has let rip.
Lascelles took exception to United being called “embarrassing” and “a joke” and instead insisted they had had their tactics spot on.
United’s on-field leader, never afraid to confront in the name of fairness, had only just managed to resist a tirade on Twitter in the aftermath of that 1-0 defeat but could not remain silent any longer.
Good for him. This is a young man with a maturity beyond his experience and a willingness to lead from the front on behalf of all Geordies.
He can make mistakes in play – he is still learning – but they are getting less and less and his all-round leadership is vital to the relegation battle swirling round a famous old club.
His is a young and inexperienced squad which needs the guidance of Benitez off the park and Lascelles on it.
At time when footballers publicly kiss a the club badge at every given opportunity to supposedly show they care, this guy actually does. He gets what Newcastle United are all about in a way Mike Ashley never has over a decade of misfortune.
While Lscelles held court in a refreshingly honest way this week. he revealed the great strength of Benitez as manager in the mad, mad world of a blundering and increasingly indifferent Ashley.
The Spaniard commands respect where a previous manager Steve McClaren plainly did not despite having once managed England.
Lascelles recalled how McClaren had asked the players to get off the team coach to go for a walk. They simply refused. Manager overruled!
No one, Lascelles added, would ever dream of going against the wishes of Benitez these days. You betya. FORMER Newcastle and England star Rob Lee is making a quick return to the North East after watching his sons in the FA Cup tie at SJP.
He is doing a talk-in on behalf of North Road Gym ABC at the Olde Earl Grey in West Kyo on Wednesday night. Tickets are £10 each and limited to 70 on a first-come,
first-served basis.