Newcastle United lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace at the weekend extending their current winless run to four Premier League matches. After the game pundit Paul Merson identified the mistakes, he thought manager Steve Bruce had made and how he could have escaped Selhurst Park with a victory. Instead, the Magpies are looking cautiously over their shoulder with 11 games remaining and a seven-point gap to the drop, hitting poor form at the worst possible moment.
What did he say?
Speaking on Sky Sports post-match Merson said: “The two in the middle [for Newcastle] were just overrun, [Sean] Longstaff and [Nabil] Bentaleb, I though Steve Bruce should have changed it.”
When asked was Joelinton starved of service, the ex-Arsenal player said: “Yeas he was. He had a great shot from about 30 yards out which the keeper made a meal of, but Newcastle were never really in the game. If I’ve got to be honest [Allan] Saint-Maximin was the only one that looked a threat.”
Bruce slow to react to Palace dominance
In purely statistical terms, Merson’s comments on the midfield fall slightly short of the mark. As per WhoScored, Newcastle had more possession 56 per cent, along with no opposition player completing more passes than Longstaff, 60, and Bentaleb’s 54. However, that does not paint the full picture, as the central midfield pairing failed to provide any cutting edge and far too regularly chose the safe option, playing just one key pass between them.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace did not need to dominate possession to run the game and consistently troubled Martin Dubravka, who was forced into a string of outstanding saves. Bruce should have looked to provide more forward momentum in central midfield once he had spotted Newcastle were not penetrating the Eagles.
As for Joelinton, his 30-yard effort described by Merson was his only attempt on goal, epitomising how he was marooned from his teammates. While they work incredibly hard for the team defensively, in attacking scenario’s Joelinton, Saint-Maximin and Almiron can be left looking like three isolated individuals and that was the case once more against Palace. Bruce must find a system which retains defensive solidity but brings the trio closer together or risk being sucked into the thick of the relegation battle.
