Newcastle United threw away a near-certain win against Spurs on Tuesday night, and Roy Keane still can’t believe what he saw at St. James’ Park.
Eddie Howe twice saw his side take the lead against Tottenham, but they were pegged back by two Cristian Romero goals.
14 games in, how are you feeling about Newcastle’s start to the Premier League season? 👀
The good news is we can’t go any lower in the table tonight. We could actually move up to 12th if Arsenal beat Brentford!
No one could quite believe the Spurs defender had scored again, especially with an unorthodox overhead kick. Newcastle United fans blamed Aaron Ramsdale for conceding that one, but he isn’t the only guilty party.
It was certainly two points lost for Newcastle, and Roy Keane has had his say on where the Magpies went wrong on the night.
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Newcastle defenders slammed for Spurs display
On the latest episode of Stick to Football, the former Manchester United man assessed the Newcastle defending for Romero’s goal with his usual brutal honesty.
“You know, the Spurs equaliser last night, the second one [from Romero]. The Newcastle defenders… Why can’t they read it?,” Keane said. “It’s coming their way, react!”
Jill Scott then chimed in, saying: “I can’t believe it went in.”
And then, with a hint of humour, Keane said: “I know. The defenders are like surprised.”
In fairness, he has a point. Romero’s bicycle kick was not the cleanest or most powerful, and the ball practically trickled past Dan Burn and Ramsdale before nestling in the goal.
The defending for both goals was poor, and is something Alan Shearer also picked up on. But, it’s all at the heart of a much more serious issue that has plagued Newcastle’s season.
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Newcastle are throwing away points
The fact of the matter is Newcastle are unable to hold onto results. They are now the team in the Premier League to have lost the most points from winning positions, relinquishing 11 points so far this season.
At the heart of that, Newcastle have now conceded four goals in stoppage time this term. Three instances of that have been at home, too.
Another goal conceded in stoppage time, what is going on? 😡
If the Magpies can’t play until the final whistle, teams are going to find them out and punish them. Games are getting longer and longer, with plenty of matches going beyond eight minutes of added time these days.
Other teams are able to go the distance, so why can’t Newcastle?
One of the big issues, it seems, is Eddie Howe’s tactics. The Newcastle United manager once again switched to a back-five on Tuesday by bringing Fabian Schar on for Lewis Miley. That conservative approach didn’t work, as it simply invites more pressure.
Howe has to learn his lesson, and so do the Newcastle defenders.
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