Newcastle United suffered defeat to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, with goals from Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer either side of an Alexander Isak equaliser condemning United to another miserable outing in South London making it five games without a win.
Stamford Bridge is an unhappy hunting ground, and it was summed up by the Swedish striker’s inability to find his man in front of an open goal which really highlighted just how off it United are at the moment.
Here are our some of my key takeaways from the game:
Ageing Centre Backs Exposed by Recruitment Failures
Let’s be clear – United’s defending on Sunday was atrocious. Both centre backs were constantly dragged into midfield by Palmer and Jackson dropping deep, leaving their lack of pace horribly exposed.
However, in an era of football dominated by creative, hard tackling, hardworking number 6’s sweeping between the midfield line and defensive line (Chelsea had two playing on Sunday) – United’s lack of a specialist player or a player who is disciplined enough to perform that role in the squad is criminal.
It’s a failure of recruitment, it’s a failure of coaching and it is a failure which is costing us dearly right now and showing our aging, slow centre backs for what they are. You can clearly see why the club pushed so hard to get Marc Guehi in the summer and Sven Botman simply cannot come back quick enough.
2. Too Many Are Underperforming
Howe’s tactics, poor subs, lack of plan B and failure to adapt have created cause for concern at times this season, but he is also being let down by his players.
Despite scoring, Isak committed one of the worst sins on a football pitch by being greedy when he should’ve squared for a tap into an empty net. Joelinton has got his new contract and has regressed; Barnes is an anonymous waste of £38m (should’ve been spent on a RW) while Almiron and Murphy are still expected to play and contribute on the right.
Schar is aging…
Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2024/10/28/key-takeaways-from-chelsea-2-1-newcastle-centre-backs-isak-and-huge-week-ahead/
Author : Jonathan Young
Publish date : 2024-10-28 16:02:37
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