JOHNGIBSON Magpies must improve or they’ll hurtle towards drop
THREE OF NEXT FOUR GAMES ARE AGAINST TOP-FOUR SIDES - UNITED CAN’T CAPITULATE 2018 - the good, the bad and the ugly
LET us not kid ourselves - if a fullblown miracle may not quite be required yet, as it is at Huddersfield, then a little divine intervention would not go amiss!
Certainly United have to do better than the pathetic effort last time out or they will be on skid row hurtling towards the Championship. You are warned!
Why better? Because having staggered from the double whammy of Liverpool and Manchester United we head straight into a minefield where first-footers must pick their way with the utmost care and attention.
Three of Newcastle’s next four Premier League games are against top-four teams - and the other is a genuine six-pointer against fellow relegation desperadoes Cardiff City.
If that does not set off alarm bells and concentrate creaking minds then nought will.
Newcastle are knee deep in the mire because only results matter.
Next it is Chelsea (a), Cardiff (h), Manchester City (h) and Spurs (a) which is akin to sticking your fingers in a bacon slicer and then heading directly to hospital.
How many points can we genuinely Martin Dubravka expect United to harvest? Well, early in the season is was a paltry one from 12 against the same opposition – repeat that and we are doomed. Newcastle MUST improve this time.
Three 2-1 defeats against the elite may have looked like dignity intact but it was no points gained while a 0-0 draw at Cardiff was anything but acceptable, heightened as it was by a dreadful late penalty miss from Kenedy which would have brought a very valuable extra two points.
This time United have to beat Cardiff (to benefit and also hold them back) and still get points elsewhere probably away where they perform better anyway.
Christmas was not kind, neither was Mike Ashley all 2018, and this year began badly against Man U.
They are facts not opinion however many positives we all desperately wish to take from defeats or points dropped. Bottom line is, it is points not positives which count. HAVING left it behind we can look back with clearer eyes.
2018 was good to us... finishing 10th top of the Premier League.
Bad to us.. Mike Ashley did not sell. Good to us... Martin Dubravka and Salomon Rondon.
Bad to us... Islam Slimani and Jack Colback.
Good to us... beating Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea.
One of the major problems is Newcastle don’t score enough goals.
When they go behind they are usually beaten and their home record - eight defeats in 11 - is atrocious.
The midweek disappointment was highlighted by what befell the two stand-out players Rafa Benitez has trusted enough to be his side’s only Premier League ever presents this season.
Martin Dubravka was sadly but badly at fault for the crucial breakthrough first goal which turned the game while Mo Diame, who had broken up Man U attacks time and again, hobbled off with a groin strain at 0-0.
Unfortunately, bad luck often equates to bad play. Example?
Christian Atsu Bad to us... FA Cup and League Cup exits (as usual).
Good to us... Dubravka came back. Bad to us... rest of summer transfer window.
Good to us... Benitez still stayed. Bad to us... no wins in first 10 league games this season.
Good to us...beating Watford and Bournemouth back to back at home. Bad to us...then a return to normal missed enough gilt-edged opportunities to have won two matches, often not even hitting the target after good approach work.
His finishing for a Premier-rated attacker was mind-boggling in its dreadful consistency.
If you don’t take your chances against quality teams and then make mistakes like Dubravka, however cruel, you lose.
Usually it is not him, it is others, but the outcome is the same. United must pray the likes of Salomon Rondon, Federico Fernandez, and Ki, when he returns, battle to avoid last season’s personal catastrophe of relegation from the Premier League rather than shrug and concede ‘here we go again’ while the team as a whole discover what they had in the second half of United’s last campaign home service which currently stands at eight defeats in 11 matches. 2019? We await for things to pan out with a mixture of apprehension and fading hope.
So far nought has changed but maybe, just maybe if we all get our New Year’s Wish granted, someone will take the coin and head for the hills.
Well we can still dream can’t we? when they defeated Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea instead of the results so far against top-six sides which have been total capitulation.
They must, certainly against lesser opposition at home, play with a far greater tactical freedom and not with the belt-and-braces caution of five at the back. Get back to moving the ball quicker and getting forward with purpose.
While United have produced little cheer over the festive period we have had to witness points gathered at some stage in the last week by the likes of Burnley (six), Fulham (three), Cardiff (three), Crystal Palace (three) and Southampton (one at Chelsea) to considerably tighten the noose. Only Huddersfield are left stranded needing snookers.
Should Newcastle make a mess of the upcoming quartet of fixtures, which does not bear thinking about, life come February will be horrendous. Please someone step up to the plate. Someone, anyone.
Time is rapidly running out. This club’s supporters do not deserve what they are having to endure in their masses but who will, who can, do something about it?