Not one single Newcastle United player can hold their head high after that diabolical showing against Sunderland, but questions need to be asked of Tino Livramento.
The Newcastle United unbeaten run came to a firm end on Sunday afternoon at the Stadium of Light with a 1-0 defeat to their bitter rivals.
Who was Newcastle United’s most disappointing player vs Sunderland?
Feel free to list all of them in the comments 👀
From top to bottom, Newcastle players were poor. The attack was limp, they lost the midfield battle, and the defence looked shellshocked.
Eddie Howe needs to ask some serious questions of his players and reassess his tactics. And as for Tino Livramento, maybe, just maybe, the club’s big expectations of him weren’t backed up for once.
Tino Livramento was poor vs Sunderland
Livramento was not the worst Newcastle player on the pitch, not by a long shot. But, he certainly didn’t shower himself in glory.
The full-back failed to win a single duel out of the five he contested and didn’t win a tackle through the entire game. He did make four recoveries, however.
Livramento also lost possession ten times, had two unsuccessful touches, and failed to complete the one dribble he attempted (as per Sofascore).
While his passing wasn’t too bad, with an 89% completion rate and one key pass made, Livramento struggled to meet expectations in his one main task: defending.
On at least two occasions, Livramento was turned and left for dead by Sunderland’s wingers. He looked off the pace and overawed by the whole situation. In short, Livramento was miles away from his best and it was a worrying blip on his near-perfect record.
Shearer’s derby verdict is in! Too harsh or not harsh enough?
I think he's spot on 😠
Is Tino Livramento really worth £100m?
The thing is, this performance came just days after Livramento was valued at over £100m by Newcastle.
Furthermore, Livramento is a leader behind the scenes at Newcastle, but he didn’t take that onto the pitch when he really needed to.
To get a homegrown talent who is young, has lots of potential, and is already very experienced in the Premier League and Champions League, you’re going to have to pay a premium, we know that.
Truthfully, there may be an argument that Livramento isn’t necessarily worth £100m just yet, all things considered. Performances like that underline that there are still improvements to be made.
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