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Opinion

The next time Gary Neville visits planet Earth can somebody tell him…

9 years ago
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I have to ask the question, has Gary Neville actually watched Newcastle United this season?

Maybe he has been a bit like many of us Newcastle fans, peeping out from behind the sofa, worried about what you might see next…

He has got it into his head that Newcastle United are second bottom because the team have been set up in a too attacking formation, with Steve McClaren bowing to the demands of the daft supporters.

Gary Neville was speaking on Sky Sports on Monday night and was suggesting that Newcastle fans might need to be ‘re-educated’ because we all think we are back in the mid-90s (yes I’m fed up this season having to watch 4-3s every week…) under Kevin Keegan.

Undoubtedly we would LIKE to be back to those days of winning matches and spectacular football but I don’t know anybody who thinks we should be going all out attack.

That doesn’t stop Neville though from lecturing us that we can’t expect to play with four up front against the likes of Watford.

When Gary Neville next visits the planet Earth, he might like to revisit these matches where NUFC have been easily beaten by run of the mill Premier League sides, without hardly having a kick in the final third of the field.

The major factor in struggling so badly is due to playing one up front and giving the striker so little support, with a far too defensive formation.

It is no coincidence that against both Southampton and Chelsea, Newcastle played their best football and led until the late stages, when lack of stamina and a weaker bench than the opposition played a big part in draws instead of what were possibly/probably deserved wins.

Even when the team won their other point at Old Trafford, there was an element of threat and not just 100% defence.

Of course it helps now that we can pair Mitrovic with Perez and it showed against Chelsea.

The likes of Watford and Swansea dominated Newcastle with an attacking formation and playing their football in the final third, not being hesitant in getting on the attack.

Let’s hope that Steve McClaren was already tucked up in bed with his cocoa by the time Gary Neville started lecturing the Geordie nation on what kind of football we need/deserve.

Gary Neville:

“That is the mentality of Newcastle as a club, they still think they are in the mid-90s where they can go and attack everyone.

“If though you are say, Tony Pulis going into West Brom, or Alan Pardew going into Crystal Palace, then the first thing they do against the lesser teams in the league is that they accept where they are in the league and they do that (play counter-attacking football).”

Take Watford for example:

“The crowd might have to accept that because they are going to go out of the league if they think they can play 4-2-4 for example, against Watford for example.

“They are not paying respect to the other clubs in the league and that is why they are getting done.”

We don’t need no re-education:

“Maybe the crowd are going to have to accept that, maybe Steve McClaren’s going to have to pull back a little back.

“I watched them at Old Trafford and they completely sat behind the ball, they had a couple of chances, mainly though they sat behind the ball.

“Can the (Newcastle) crowd be re-educated into thinking ‘We are not in the right position’?”

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