Howe’s shocking approach and zero credit – Five takeaways from Man City 4-0 Newcastle
Newcastle United’s worst performance of the season at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon saw them thrashed 4-0. In what was billed as a pivotal game at the top of the Premier League table, United fell well short of what’s required and left the Northwest well and truly humbled.
Man City’s scorers were via a first half hattrick from Omar Marmoush and James McAtee late in the second half.
Here are our five takeaways from the game:
Shocking game plan
Eddie Howe’s passive game plan against a defensively weak team was truly baffling. It felt like we played their reputation and not the actual players on the pitch.
We were sluggish, could barely connect any passes, and everyone seemed lethargic, as if they were recovering from the mother of all hangovers.
The gameplan was a hugely misjudged, it was perhaps the worst read of an opponent I’ve ever seen, especially considering the recent successes against Arsenal and Birmingham, where they got pretty much everything right.
One eye on the Cup Final?
This comment appeared frequently on social media during the game – well, if that’s the case then it’s going to be a bloody long month. We simply cannot allow this month to drift, the games we have are too big, mean too much and deserve our full focus.
It stinks of a small team mentality and it’s something the team needs to shift away from quickly as it continues to plague us when we play in big games.
