Keeping things simple key to fixing poor form
POINTS NEEDED FROM HOME GAMES AND GET BACK TO BASICS
NEWCASTLE United have two huge matches at St James’ Park coming up in the next week.
It’s got to that stage of the season where picking up three points is now essential.
There are no easy games in the Premier League. But there are certain matches that you need to target.
Leicester and Everton at home are two of those. Given the position Newcastle have found themselves in – they are riding on the crest of a slump at the moment – they need to wrestle back some momentum and get some points on the board.
What has worried me a little about the last few weeks is that this Magpies side is no longer resembling a Rafa Benitez team. They’ve lost the defensive solidity you associate with the best Rafa teams.
Yes, goals have been hard to come by, but we already expected that to be the case when he wasn’t backed properly in the summer.
What I didn’t see coming was Newcastle scoring first at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge, but then coughing up both leads with some very poor defensive mistakes.
It’s almost as if scoring angered Manchester United and Chelsea.
Look, they’re two exceptional sides. I didn’t necessarily expect Newcastle to get anything out of those games, and I don’t want to be overly critical. But some of the defensive errors were very poor.
Florian Lejeune made some blunders, Matt Ritchie fell asleep for the Blues’ penalty – but there were so many more mistakes from other players too. I don’t want to hang anyone out to dry, but there are players in that squad who are not doing their jobs. Attacking-wise and defensively, some players are not repaying the faith Rafa is placing in them. They must correct that over the next two games at St James’ Park. When the pressure is on and you have to play in front of the passionate Newcastle fanbase, it affects players very differently. Some shrink. Some just bat it off as if nothing is different. I firmly believe it brought out the best in me. I would keep it as simple as I could: I knew my job was to score goals, so I just made sure I found the back of the net. That’s what Newcastle players need to do in these next two matches. Boil it down to exactly what is expected: keep it simple and deliver on the basics. There are no easy games in the Premier League, but these next two matches are winnable even if Leicester and Everton have found a bit of form recently. If these games were away from home, I perhaps wouldn’t have the same confidence, particularly given Newcastle’s recent record on the road. But at St James’ Park, Newcastle Mick Quinn can beat anyone – especially any side outside of the so-called ‘Big Six.’
The atmosphere will be electric for the 125th-anniversary match this weekend, and the players need to channel that into producing a performance.
If they can, then a much-needed victory can relieve the pressure building on them.
Newcastle must stay clear of the relegation zone, and a win on Saturday will really help them do so.