It was a bad day at the office for Newcastle United last night falling to a 1-0 defeat to treble winners Manchester City but Bruno Guimaraes was able to see some positives.
In the first-half Newcastle struggled to get a hold on the game allowing Manchester City to dominate possession and create plenty of chances. Fortunately for Eddie Howe his centre-back pairing of Sven Botman and Fabian Schar were well up for the fight.
It took City 31 minutes to break the deadlock when Julian Alvarez fizzed a shot into the top corner beyond the reach of Nick Pope and that remained the only goal of the game.
Newcastle came out much better in the second half
Things improved in the second half but Newcastle failed to turn their possession into anything meaningful.
Fans on social media have taken to pointing the finger at one player in particular – I’m not going to name him and pile on, but in reality, Newcastle failed as a team. It wasn’t the fault of just one man.
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Particularly in the first half Newcastle looked terrified of City. They gave them far too much respect instead of believing in themselves and getting stuck in, but this is something that will come in time.
Newcastle so often leave the Etihad having been well and truly battered, so to come away with just a 1-0 defeat does show progress as much as it stings.
Bruno Guimaraes felt the second half showed Newcastle can compete
Bruno Guimaraes was clearly disappointed with how his side played but he did have something positive to say when interviewed by NUFC TV, acknowledging that the second half was much better, saying: “We showed in the second half we can compete with teams like that.
“For me this showed that we can compete in the Premier League and in the Champions League. We had some good chances, from my point of view we have to be better with the ball, the second half was a little bit better but I think we have the quality to be better with the ball.“
Next week we face another bogey team in Liverpool who did the double over us last season, so we know the lads will have to be at the top of their game to get something from that one.