Newcastle United made Manchester City look back to their very best on Saturday.
Heading into the trip to the Premier League champions, confidence was high for Newcastle United even despite their dreadful record at the Etihad Stadium.
Sadly, however, Newcastle slumped to a 4-0 defeat to City and the passive nature of Eddie Howe’s side made it look as if the Manchester side hadn’t endured a crisis in form whatsoever.
It was another miserable day for the travelling supporters, who have had to get used to that for trips to City over the years.
None of the players played particularly well. Kieran Trippier was slammed by Newcastle fans, while pundit Chris Sutton criticised Lewis Hall.
What was so frustrating about the result was the ease with which City racked up the goals.
Speaking after the game, City goalkeeper Ederson shared his insight.
Ederson exposes ‘easy’ Newcastle United tactic during huge Man City win
The Brazilian teed up Omar Marmoush for the first of his three goals on the day by playing a simple long ball right into his teammate’s path, Trippier misjudging a header and allowing the forward in to lob Martin Dubravka.
Ederson revealed that the fact Newcastle were using a man-to-man marking system made it “easy” to find Marmoush, who would end up scoring two more goals before the first-half was over.
“It’s a difficult team to play against because they mark man to man,” Ederson told Manchester City’s official website.
“I see the space, because they go man for man, the player free is the goalkeeper.
“Up front they’re man for man and we have good fast players, Savinho, Marmoush and Erling, so it’s easy, I just put the ball there.”
“Pathetic” Newcastle United bullied by Man City
Club legend Alan Shearer branded Newcastle “pathetic” for their performance at City and it’s easy to see why.
Pep Guardiola’s side – particularly without Rodri – are not known for their physicality but Newcastle simply couldn’t deal with them.
As per WhoScored data, not a single Newcastle player won more than one aerial duel on the day. City, on the other hand, had three players (Abdukodir Khusanov, Josko Gvardiol and Erling Haaland), who won two.
Newcastle were toyed with at the Etihad. Again.
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