Jermaine Jenas was highly critical of Newcastle United following their defeat against Brighton on Sunday.
The Magpies slipped to a 1-0 away loss against Brighton in the Premier League and saw a three-game winning streak end at the same time.
Rafael Benitez’s side were unable to beat the fellow promoted side as striker Tomer Hemed scored the winning goal for the hosts.
The North East club were fairly quiet in front of goal and only really threatened with an equaliser late on when substitute Jonjo Shelvey made a positive impact.
BBC pundit Jenas claimed that Newcastle showed “no belief” during the defeat and that they were lacking creativity in the final third.
“It just felt like it took Brighton to have to score the goal for them [Newcastle] to get going and I didn’t understand that,” Jenas told BBC programme Match of the Day 2. “I felt like there was no belief really within their ranks.
“They got up to the latter stages of the field and it was all a bit if we get lucky and get a break then we will give it a go. They just didn’t really seem to have too much creativity. I thought the substations were really positive and they made a big difference, but it was too little too late.”
OPINION
Newcastle will have marked the Brighton clash as a fixture they could get points from and will be disappointed with the manner of their loss. Their recent form means that it shouldn’t be too detrimental to them, but they were unable to serious test a Brighton side that are likely to be in a relegation battle. Benitez’s side look strong defensively and the performance of goalkeeper Rob Elliot was a particular positive from the Brighton loss. However, there are still major problem in attack as they haven’t had a recognised goalscorer so far this season. Striker Joselu has yet to be clinical in front of goal and the likes of Dwight Gayle and Aleksandar Mitrovic are still to make the desired impact in the top flight.