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Opinion

Steve McClaren’s most deluded comments…so far

8 years ago
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I am sadly in no doubt now that Steve McClaren is little more than a poor man’s Alan Pardew.

The whole club is a joke and the Head Coach doesn’t deserve the blame for all of the mess but he does absolutely deserve to be called out for his shocking formation and negative football, the inability to organise and motivate a group of players who aren’t great but shouldn’t be bottom three…but most of all for the absolute rubbish he is talking game after game.

It was recently revealed that Mike Ashley had got Steve Black coaching Steve McClaren as to what to say at his press conferences, with the emphasis on repetitive use of key words and phrases to try and distract fans from how bad things really are.

However, after the result at West Brom, Steve McClaren has gone a massive step further than all of the daft stuff he has said before.

West Brom are really poor and yet they managed 22 shots and 18 corners, whilst Newcastle produced only 7 shots and 6 corners (see BBC stats below). With three times more corners and shots it is clear to any sane person just who bossed the match, even though the football wasn’t great.

Amazingly, Steve McClaren does not think that team was West Brom.

Remarkably, the Newcastle boss has claimed that Newcastle dominated the game.

On top of this, he has also claimed that he heard no negativity shown from the Newcastle fans at the end, clearly attempting to make out that the hardcore away fans were happy with what they had watched and shared his deluded view of what had happened in the game.

However, anybody who was at the Hawthorns will tell you that the vast majority of Newcastle fans were far from happy with the latest rubbish performance and tactics, with many of them making this clear at the final whistle with boos and abuse aimed especially at Steve McClaren as well as many of the players.

I wish I lived in the kind of bubble that Steve McClaren obviously lives in, where no matter what bad stuff comes your way, you just deny its existence.

Incredible.

Steve McClaren:

“I thought Cheicky came on and did a great job, I think we continued to dominate the game really.

“Of course we were under pressure because they play a lot of long balls but we dealt with them ever so well. Cheicky came and did the job and he’ll have to do the job next week (Arsenal) as well. Vurnon Anita doesn’t look too good and he has been fantastic for us.

“We should have had a penalty, a blatant penalty and the referee will look at it and think ‘I got that one wrong’. That was an opportunity to go one up and I thought it was a one goal game, the first goal is always important.

“For the second game in three days we have had bad luck and didn’t deserve the result from that performance we had. The attitude was great, the workrate was great, defended so many crosses – defended our box for our lives.

“So somebody will look and go ‘Well it’s another defeat’ but I think we have been unlucky in the last two games and previous to that, we’d been on a run. So I think we have ended the first half (of the season) performance wise strong and we are looking for a better second half as well.

“We started ever so well, it’s difficult coming here – they are big and strong – we stood toe to toe with them. I thought we opened very well and created one or two good opportunities again. Same with second half, we started well and the penalty knocked us flat.

“I am interested to know if there were any boos (from Newcastle fans) because I think the team went over and were applauded.

“Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve in football, the last two games we haven’t, but we have to continue what we’ve been doing knowing and I know  that it will turn around.”

Here are the stats from BBC Sport:

Possession was 48% Newcastle and 52% West Brom

Total shots was 7 for Newcastle and West Brom 22

Shots on target was Newcastle 2 and West Brom 5

While corners was Newcastle 6 and West Brom 18

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