Steve McManaman was left baffled during Newcastle United’s Champions League victory over Athletic Club on Wednesday night.
Newcastle United put the weekend’s disaster at West Ham behind them by bouncing back to winning ways in the Champions League.
Eddie Howe’s side are on course for a possible top-eight finish in the league phase after they defeated Club Athletic 2-0 at St. James’ Park – their third win on the spin.
A beautiful header from Dan Burn was followed by Joelinton’s simple nod-in after the break to secure the victory, but it was far from a vintage performance.
Newcastle were sloppy and unadventurous on the ball for most of the match, something that Steve McManaman found ‘mind-boggling.’
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Steve McManaman makes scathing criticism of Newcastle United
Liverpool and Real Madrid legend McManaman was on commentary duty for TNT Sports and was highly critical of Newcastle’s approach to the first half.
Though they were already in the lead, Newcastle monotonously passed the ball around their back line and repeatedly gave it away in dangerous positions, which nearly led to an equaliser.
“Their choice of passing has been mind-boggling,” McManaman said. “They go backwards and backwards and give Athletic the opportunity again. They have to play more forwards.”
Moments later, Newcastle finally played a ball forward and actually scored through Joelinton, though it was disallowed due to a handball in the build-up. McManaman felt the good passage of play immediately proved him right.
“Straight away, you see [Anthony] Gordon is quicker than Jesus Areso, so just play it to him.
“Keep on running forwards, giving options to your teammates, don’t play it backwards because they keep giving the ball away.
“Play it forwards and you’ll get chance after chance after chance. Just keep on doing that. You don’t have to make it any more difficult.”
Steve McManaman’s complaint has been bugging Newcastle fans for ages
It says a lot when a commentator who presumably doesn’t watch Newcastle every week can identify a big problem in the team within 20 minutes of watching them.
Whether it be injuries – Anthony Gordon and William Osula became the latest casualties on Wednesday – the fatigue from extra fixtures, new signings taking time to settle in or just bad form, Newcastle have been out of sorts for weeks, with periods of poor spells even in their victories.
The ponderous, unexciting backwards passing, needlessly keeping possession instead of hitting teams hard and fast with their rapid wingers, has become an increasing frustration on the terraces and on social media.
If Newcastle are to get back to their swashbuckling best, then they need to start playing more direct again. That’s when they excite the fans the most.
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