Newcastle United picked up an away point at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon in an horrendous performance that, somehow, almost picked up all three. Frankly, United deserved nothing from the game so a point, despite the circumstances is welcome.
A Marc Guehi own goal gave Newcastle the lead before a late, late leveller came via Munoz.
Here are our some of my key takeaways from the game:
**1\. The Worst Ever?**
With the Arsenal vs West Ham result showing just how bad a team West Ham are; it puts United’s defeat on Monday night in context for just how poor a result that was – well this performance at Palace was lightyears worse – perhaps the most insipid performance I have seen a football team, let alone Newcastle, put in. You wouldn’t see that sort of performance in Sunday League, in fact, that’s an insult to Sunday League.
A lot is made of stats; some people love them, and others hate them. Well, whether you prefer metrics or vibes, to have just one shot in 90mins (let alone a shot on target) is a disgrace. Everybody at United should hang their heads in shame (Tonali, Burn and Pope aside).
Palace could and should’ve beaten us comfortably on Saturday and it’s only their profligacy that meant that they didn’t. And with Liverpool up next: form, technical quality and tactical nous seem to have deserted United at the worst time.
**2\. Tonali: a positive**
But it’s now just one win in the games that the Italian and Bruno Guimaraes have started together. There just seems to be a hoodoo over the two when they play together, and it’s a hoodoo which needs to be overcome on the training ground ASAP. Robbed of the opportunity last season because of Tonali’s ban, the pair have barely played 15 games together and there are clear teething problems.
The layman football fan would heartily argue that surely Tonali should be the deeper of the two with Bruno pushing on, but it just doesn’t seem to be working, and the huge gap between the defence and the midfield is creeping back into the game. Tonali had to make several recovery and covering runs when fullbacks and others were caught up field on Saturday.
Tonali was a positive and he and Bruno are clearly excellent players, but I just can’t help but feel that they need someone sat behind them, mopping up, in the no.6 role.
3\. And it had to be Liverpool up next…
I will try to round this out with a bit of positivity and that remains the same as it has all season. Despite the possibly of ending the weekend around 13th, if results go against us on Sunday, a combative win against Liverpool on Wednesday could reignite the season (once again) and we all know this Newcastle team seems to like the big games, and I would always back us at home.
Unfortunately, it’s against Liverpool, a side we have a stinking record against and who just so happen to be running clear at the top of table and taking advantage of everyone beating everyone else. And to top it all off, our main striker has just hobbled off with an injury, and we’ve just recorded a game without a single shot on target against a side in the bottom three whose defence is awful, and not full of world class footballers… I did say I’d try!
On Saturday, we looked a side lacking in identity, tactically lost and without cutting edge or fresh ideas. Howe has a lot to work on this week and he’ll have to get it right soon if we wish to be in a good position after upcoming games against Liverpool and Brentford.
HWTL