Newsletter

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

Opinion

Former Spurs and Liverpool star declares Newcastle United struggling with pressure (unlike Liverpool, Spurs…)

1 year ago
Share

Newcastle United have been struggling to cope with the pressure, Jamie Redknapp has claimed.

The former Tottenham and Liverpool star stating that Premier League top four has been too much of a burden for Eddie Howe and his players.

Is Jamie Redknapp right?

Well, Newcastle United entered the Premier League top four for the first time this season five months ago, ironically, after that excellent 2-1 win and performance at Tottenham. That made it 13 points out of a possible 15.

Now five months later, if Newcastle United win at Forest on Friday, they will go one point behind fourth placed Spurs with a game in hand.

Is this really a team that has struggled to cope with pressure since getting into the top four way back in October last year?

Jamie Redknapp talking to Sky Sports – 12 March 2023:

“The [new] expectation [of a Premier League top four finish]has brought pressure to Newcastle United.

“I think they have struggled to handle it.

“Things have gone well for Newcastle United [this weekend].

“Liverpool dropped points, Manchester United dropped points.

“So, apart from Tottenham, they [Newcastle United] are still in it.

“They are still in this [Premier League] top four race.”

HERE ARE THE LAST TEN PREMIER LEAGUE MATCHES

Newcastle United 

Won: Fulham, Wolves, Leicester

Drawn: Arsenal, West Ham, Bournemouth, Palace, Leeds

Lost: Liverpool, Man City

Goals Scored 8 Goals Conceded 7

Tottenham

Won: Palace, Fulham, Man City, West Ham, Chelsea, Forest

Drawn:

Lost: Wolves, Leicester, Man City, Arsenal

Goals Scored 16 Goals Conceded 12

Liverpool

Won: Everton, Newcastle United, Wolves, Man Utd

Drawn: Chelsea, Palace

Lost: Brentford, Brighton, Wolves, Bournemouth

Goals Scored 14 Goals Conceded 10

Now I don’t know about you, but if I was looking for struggling to cope with pressure symptoms, the things I would be looking at…

Losing to low ranked teams unexpectedly

Conceding goals

Inconsistency

Liverpool have lost four of their last ten games, including to relegation strugglers Bournemouth and Wolves, conceding 12 goals in the process.

Tottenham have also lost four of their last ten games, including to relegation strugglers Leicester and Wolves, conceding 10 goals.

Newcastle have lost two of their last ten games, only losing to Man City and Liverpool, conceding just seven goals.

Just in case anybody is going to claim I am fiddling the stats by picking the perfect cut-off point, before these last ten PL matches, Newcastle won all of their previous five games!

I think for sure Newcastle United have had a bit of a dip in form but actually, I think overall, the performances have continued to be very consistent. The defending has continued to be generally excellent and in eight of these last ten PL matches, NUFC only conceded three goals and kept five clean sheets, once again – not suggesting this is a team struggling under pressure. Struggling to take the numerous chances that continue to come along maybe, but not a struggle, in terms of the team suddenly falling apart.

The two defeats were due to a nightmare 12 minutes against Liverpool, after which NUFC were the better and more threatening team (hit the bar twice) despite playing for over 70 minutes with 10 men, then lost 2-0 at Man City when Newcastle wasted half a dozen good to very good chances, whilst Man City scored twice despite only three shots on target in the entire game.

Alexander Isak proved just how vital having a top quality finisher can be when scoring that header against Wolves, that was what Man City and Liverpool did in those moments.

The inconsistent teams towards the top end who are struggling to show the same form week to week, do not include Newcastle United.

Tottenham win against Man City then next game hammered 4-1 by Leicester, win 2-0 against Chelsea then lose 1-0 to Wolves.

Liverpool win 7-0 against Man U then lose 1-0 to Bournemouth, lose 3-0 to Wolves then win 2-0 against Everton.

You could of course throw Man Utd into this as well, win 3-0 against Leicester then lose 7-0 at Anfield and can only draw at home to bottom of the table Southampton.

Eddie Howe has put together some 15 months of form, since Christmas 2021, Newcastle United have only lost eight Premier League games, not losing in 36 of 44 PL matches.

Maybe Newcastle United will be caught short when it comes to quality and depth in their squad BUT in terms of bottling it as Jamie Redknapp suggests, struggling due to pressure, I just don’t see it.

Just for information.

Whilst Newcastle United have lost eight Premier League matches since Christmas 2021, in that same time period, Tottenham have lost 15 and Man U have lost 13.

Whilst Liverpool have lost 7 of just their last 24 PL matches from August 2022 onwards.

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