Media manipulation – Name this Premier League club

I have a challenge for you, name this Premier League from the clues.

The clues I will give are from their last seven league matches.

Their record is played seven, won three, drawn two and lost two, 11 points from a possible 21.

Pretty mid-table form for this Premier League club I think you would agree?

In their last seven league matches, this Premier League club has scored 12 and conceded 14.

Not really a stand out team / club based on this.

Though you would never guess from the media manipulation.

These are those last seven results for this particular Premier League club:

Crystal Palace 1 Man U 1

Arsenal 3 Man U 2

Man U 2 Crystal Palace 1

Man U 2 Leeds 2

Leeds 0 Man U 2

Man U 3 Leicester 0

Liverpool 7 Man U

Yes I know everybody is talking and laughing about that collapse and hammering at Anfield BUT at the same time the media are reporting it as though this defeat is completely at odds, with seemingly flawless form, if you went by how the media present it…

Yes, getting seven put past them was another level BUT when you look at the other Man U Premier League form of these past seven weeks, it is nothing to get excited about.

Preceding the shambles against Liverpool, Man U had lost defeat to Arsenal and in five games against bottom half opposition, drawn two of them and lost three.

Hang on, I hear some of you say, what about their form overall in all competitions?

That would then change their playing record since mid-January, if including cup competitions, to played fourteen, won nine, drawn three and lost two.

This is where the media manipulation comes in for me, as the way they report on a particular Premier League club, very clearly has a massive impact on what many people think AND what is discussed. The media invariably dictate the agenda. You see it so often on TV as well, the likes of Sky Sports and MOTD, the things they pick put of games to highlight, are invariably what then become the big discussion points from any match, with equally valid points / debates then usually ignored.

Which brings me to Newcastle United.

Quite clearly, the media want to make the story to be Newcastle United collapsing, three defeats in a row (in all competitions), only one Premier League win since Boxing Day, only three Premier League goals scored since Boxing Day and so on.

Those stats / the spin above, are all true.

However, these Newcastle United stats are also true:

These last 11 months, only Liverpool and Man City have won against Newcastle United in the Premier League.

Newcastle United have lost only three of their last 26 PL games.

Since the Qatar World Cup, Newcastle have played fourteen matches against Premier League clubs (in all competitions) and have six, drawn five and lost three.

Extending that further, in their last twenty three matches against other PL clubs (all competitions), Newcastle have won fourteen, drawn six and lost three.

Newcastle United have conceded only eight goals in their last fifteen PL matches.

This season so far, Newcastle United have conceded only 17 goals in the Premier League, the next best are Man City and Arsenal who have each conceded 25, eight more than NUFC. Man U (35) and Tottenham (36) have conceded more than twice as many goals as Newcastle.

Before these last four PL games brought two 1-1 draws and two 2-0 defeats, Newcastle had kept six PL clean sheets in a row.

Newcastle United have had 102 shots in their last eight Premier League matches but have only scored three goals.

The bottom line is that is no broken Premier League club or broken system / tactics that Eddie Howe is using.

Yes, he might want to tweak things, maybe make the odd change in the team selection, but at its core, Newcastle United are still performing well overall, though could do better.

It sounds simple but Newcastle United do really just need to start taking some of the many chances they have still been creating, including against Liverpool and Man City (and Man U in the cup), whilst at the same time getting back to keeping those regular clean sheets that so many Newcastle fans started taking for granted. Before these defeats to Liverpool and Man City, Newcastle United could / would have picked up six points and not two against West Ham and Bournemouth, if not for poor defending on a couple of corners.

Those are the fine margins and we just have to get back to making sure those fine margins are going in our favour once again.