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Newcastle players get touchy about criticism

8 years ago
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The Newcastle players have bitten back after recent criticism of their performances, with Jack Colback their spokesman.

The team clearly think that what has been said has been over the top this season and Colback says that it will now be ‘interesting to see how many ex-players and pundits give a comment this week’.

One of the most vocal and who no doubt is who Jack Colback is largely referring to, is Alan Shearer, and his praise for the team for the last two matches was instant.

Matters came to a head with the crushing defeats to Leicester and Palace but Jack Colback says both of them are ‘good teams’.

That might be the case but it wasn’t just that Newcastle got beat, it was the nature of the losses, nobody taking responsibility and that pair of defeats came on the back of another really poor display against Bournemouth, where Newcastle scored with their one shot of the game and were incredibly lucky to come away with three points.

Obviously you can understand players, just like anybody else, feeling hurt when they get criticism.

However, maybe the team and management should just let their performances do the talking and leave the praise for these two wins to others, including the ex-players and pundits…

It is surely hard to see why Jack Colback and his teammates should feel aggrieved at what has been said this season, Newcastle have spent most of the last four months in the relegation zone and up until the Liverpool match had won only two Premier League games in 14 and were knocked out of the League Cup by Sheffield Wednesday reserves.

It is also maybe a little early to be talking of being out of trouble, considering that if results went against Newcastle this weekend, United could still end up back in the bottom three in time for Christmas.

As for Jack Colback himself, he is one player that most wouldn’t criticise for any lack of effort but central midfield has been a disaster area for Newcastle this season.

Failing to give the defence decent protection has helped to provide a statistic of no team having conceded more than the 31 goals Newcastle have picked out of their net.

Whilst going forward, Jack Colback hasn’t contributed a single goal or assist, with the season almost halfway through, though the midfielder has accumulated seven yellow cards already as United struggle to command the middle of the pitch.

I don’t think it is a case of Jack Colback and the rest of the team & management proving us all wrong, I think it is just a case of week in week out the team showing that they are good enough and committed enough to play for Newcastle United.

Jack Colback:

“That’s football really…you play against good teams and Leicester are a good team. They have done that to other teams this season. We didn’t defend well against Palace and got punished – they are also a good team.

“As a team we have to stick together and it will be interesting how much Press we get this week.

“You have got to take the good with the bad – when you lose games in this league you are there to be shot at.

“You have got take that on the chin and react, I think that’s the biggest thing, and we have shown a reaction.”

Level of criticism undeserved after Crystal Palace defeat?:

 “It is hard to say it is unwarranted after a result like that…it will just be interesting to see how many ex-players and pundits give a comment this week about the performance.

“When you lose, especially at Newcastle, everyone seems to jump on it – you have got to deal with it as a player and it is about the reaction.

“Certain (ex-)players have earned the right to have their opinion and we have got to take that on the chin. That is football – it is a game of opinion.”

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