Bloody hell, that was tough going by
Dubtractor 21 Dec 2024 18:26First off - that's a different game if we have Hirst or Delap available. Newcastle knew we had no outlet at all, and could press high and hard without fear that we had an out ball. Even allowing for that initial caveat though, we got so much wrong, and a number of players were really poor.
Was surprised that we hooked Omari but left Chaplin on at half time, as Chaplin couldn't trap a bag of cement today, and nothing was working for him at all. Across the team we gave the ball away at will.
For the first goal I don't understand why Burgess didn't just head the long ball out, rather than allow it to drop and then get caught behind. Balls in behind gave Burgess big problems all game, and his lack of pace was horribly exposed. Even then it felt like we had a couple of chances to clear and failed to do so.
Second goal I need to see again, but felt like it was straight down the middle and you want Muric to be stopping it.
Third goal was an absolute horror show, and I can't explain how Muric thought that was a sensible pass to play, even if the pass was asked for. Though my point above about no outlet stands here, as Newcastle had flooded our box knowing that in the unlikely event we went long they would instantly win it back.
Fourth goal we were statuesque in our defending.
To be honest 4-0 probably flattered us based on the chances created, and we created nothing of note all game. It was men against boys.
Burns is a real problem for us if he isn't going to back himself against full backs. Morsy was uncharacteristically careless with the ball. Szmodics is very evidently not able to play as a 9 at this level. In fact pretty much every player was well below the standard you'd hope for, with 2 players probably given a pass.
Broadhead showed a level of composure and technique that was lacking elsewhere. Al Hamadi is clearly not at the level we need this season, but he at least gave us a presence up front and asked a few questions of their defence with some decent runs.
Us being rubbish today doesn't mean we are rubbish overall, much like poor individual performances don't make players rubbish, but man we need some of our absent players back soon. Really need to add an extra sprinkling of quality in January too, to give ourselves a fighting chance of escaping the drop.
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