As entertaining as it was watching Newcastle United in the first half against Brentford on Saturday, there was always that feeling that the home side were going to steal the win.
In the second half, however, Newcastle left their heads in the dressing room and it wasn't so much a theft by Brentford than a deserved victory.
During the first half, I was already planning an 'architects of their own demise' headline as it seemed like errors from our lads were going to be the reason we lost the game by a goal. Unfortunately, errors became the norm so it was no longer about Brentford capitalising as it was about Newcastle capitulating.
It's hard to pick up on everything when it's live so watching Alan Shearer break things down on Match of the Day really highlighted how it was never going to be a smash and grab by Brentford. If anything, it was Newcastle's goals that were undeserved.
Shearer absolutely tore into the Newcastle side, pointing out the lack of effort by so many players.
“I don’t like the attitude of several of the Newcastle players.
“You can’t just turn up in the big home games. They drew with Liverpool, they drew with City. They beat Spurs, they beat Chelsea, they beat Arsenal.
“This is exactly what I mean, they were dreadful defensively.”
We said something in midweek about how Newcastle tend to turn up against the bigger sides and at the time it was more of a throwaway comment, but it is actually true.
There's almost an arrogance about the side that when they play sides outside of the main contenders, they just assume they can play the opposition off the park and don't need to try as hard.
Hopefully, Eddie Howe has made them watch Shearer's comments this morning and given them a right kick up the jacksie.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -8 | 18 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
15 | -15 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |