Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

Opinion

Interesting comments from Leeds fans after Newcastle turn in regulation 2-0 win

7 years ago
Share

It was business as usual for Newcastle United, walking into Elland Road with an eight match winning run, then strolling out with three points and another notch to add to that ever increasing record.

Leeds fans had, not surprisingly, been full of it before the game.

A first capacity crowd in over six years, 22 points from the past 30 lifting them into the top six, and the semblance of a team that they feel can just possibly return them to a Premier League that they left a long long time ago.

So did Leeds fans accept their team was outclassed…or was it a case of bad luck, bad injuries, bad ref, and lucky Newcastle?

This is what Leeds fans had to say via their top Marching On Together message board:

‘Just back from an 11 hour stint in the pub, far to incoherent to comment too much but not overly disappointed, when you look at the difference in spending power etc, we did ok, not going to meet a better team all season and not disgraced. Just need to pick ourselves up and learn from it.’

‘I was impressed by Newcastle particularly Lascelles, Shelvey and Gayle. I thought first half we played ok, we were poor in the second half, however, overall I am not too concerned by the result.

First 20 minutes we couldn’t keep the ball we kept winning it back and giving it away again straight away.

Second half was disappointing because when we went 2-0 down (although we were unlucky to go 2-0 down), I never felt the players had the belief that they could get 1 goal back and get the 36,000 in the ground fully behind them to get a 2nd goal.’

‘Thought Newcastle were quicker to close down, more composed on the ball and more clinical than us. But if they are the benchmark then I though we gave a good account of ourselves.

We lost the game in midfield today, but we had four inexperienced players in there. We could have got more from that game had we taken a couple of our chances and set piece delivery needs to be much better. Put ourselves under too much pressure by giving the ball to Green and he can’t kick.’

‘I’ve a feeling we could still be playing now and we’d not have scored..’

‘Newcastle Won 2-0 in 2nd gear.’

Not a lot between the two sides when you consider the Geordies had a fully-strength side that cost £50m+ compared to the make-shift set of players Monk has put together on a low budget.

Had the services of Bridcutt, Dallas & our talented play-maker Hernandez been available to us it could have been a whole different story.

Our young kids struggled in the midfield area today, a big ask for them against a team that will eventually walk this league.

Apart from the clanger & a very well taken goal what did Newcastle produce, I can’t recall our resident clown between the sticks having to make a save, whereas their keeper Darlow produced three saves in the period just before half-time. A very messy game without the pressing & fluency we’ve witnessed in our recent games.’

‘Today simply showed the difference between a side with the premiership money and squad strength versus a side that is improving but lacking depth.

The biggest miss today was the loss of Hernandez as none of O’Kane, Vieira or Phillips are attacking midfielders, as such Wood was isolated and we struggled to keep possession in the Newcastle half. As such Newcastle were able to dominate possession.

For all Newcastle started well I felt we had weathered the storm and were growing into the game when we conceded the calamitous goal.

Apart from that Newcastle didn’t really create much else apart from the goal, which to me was down to poor marking of Gayle as one of the centre backs have to pick him up. Yes people might say they took their foot off the gas but equally when they had their good opening they didn’t create much either.’

‘One thing that did surprise me a bit from Monk was how he set up the midfield, I know it’s not fashionable but I would just have told Phillips to go man for man on Shelvey, get in his face and stop him playing, he’s a bit feisty if it doesn’t go his way and could have got himself in trouble.

If Phillips got booked I’d have swapped him and Vieira and told him to do the same.

We set up to go toe to toe with the Geordies but sometimes you’ve got to be realistic about your squad, think our midfield really suffered for that today – long term it will be fine but today we lacked the experience to play that way…..’

‘Just beaten by a far better team…..dust ourselves down and pick up 3 points in the next match.’

‘The better side won today, but they didn’t play us off the park. Clanger from Green and a fine team goal the difference. Thought our back four was solid, but midfield gave them too much respect early doors. We missed Bridcutt and, especially, Hernandez today.

Newcastle will win this league at a canter, so no disgrace losing to them. What we do in January is key, I feel, their bench looked much stronger than ours. We need some depth.’

‘Very disappointing. I was expecting us to be snapping into tackles from the off. However, Shelvey, Colback and Ritchie were given all the time and space they needed to dominate the midfield.’

‘Not a penalty for me, too close to the ball.’

‘More even 2nd half after being thrashed for 40 minutes of the first.’

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks