Paul Merson claims Newcastle ‘parked the bus’ against Chelsea

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Paul Merson has an interesting opinion on how Newcastle United approached their game with Chelsea on Sunday.

The Magpies were beaten 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, but can be immensely proud of their performance. Eddie Howe’s side deserved at least a point, but were denied late on by a moment of brilliance from Jorginho and Kai Havertz.

It was a game where the Blues dominated possession, seeing 73% of the ball. However, that’s the only statistic that massively favours Chelsea. Newcastle had seven shots to Chelsea’s eight, while the Blues had one more shot on target.

Watching the game, you could see the positive approach Newcastle had. But that’s not quite how Merson saw it.

Paul Merson’s strange assessment of Newcastle against Chelsea

The Sky Sports pundit wrote about the game in his weekly column, and admitted that he was impressed with Newcastle. However, his compliment was somewhat backhanded.

“I was at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and Newcastle are better than I thought,” Merson wrote.

“They parked the bus but they parked it in a way where they did it very well. Chelsea never looked like winning the game.”

What game was he watching?

If Merson now thinks Newcastle are better than he thought after seeing them against Chelsea, he clearly hasn’t been paying attention in recent weeks. That’s the new standard set by Howe’s men, who are a team transformed.

But to say we parked the bus at Stamford Bridge is laughable. At times Newcastle were set up on the edge of their box, but that was down to pressure Chelsea were putting us under.

The possession stats say more about Thomas Tuchel’s side’s ability to retain the ball, which is no surprise when you have players like Jorginho orchestrating proceedings.

But Newcastle certainly didn’t park the bus. We pressed very high at times, causing mistakes from the Chelsea defence. This certainly wasn’t the low block that became famous under Rafa Benitez and Steve Bruce.

Could Newcastle have been more adventurous? Possibly, but they’d have been torn apart by the champions of the world. The Magpies defended well, pressed at the right times and posed a threat offensively.

But Merson’s ‘parked the bus’ comments suggest he thought otherwise.

It’s a strange assessment from Merson, who so often gets it wrong when it comes to Newcastle.