Sky Sports pundit Matt Le Tissier has named the one thing that really baffled him in Newcastle United’s 1-0 loss to Brighton on Saturday.
Beram Kayal proved the difference between the two sides at St James’ Park, subjecting the Magpies to yet another defeat – but Le Tissier has pointed out that he found it really baffling that crosses stopped coming in once Joselu replaced Yoshinori Muto in the second half.
He said United can only lay the blame on themselves for this loss, despite the fact that they were the team that had more possession than their opponents.
“Newcastle have only got themselves to blame, they had way more the possession, way more crosses into the box and the strange thing was they stopped crossing it into the box after they took off their slightly shorter centre-forward and put on Joselu,” he said on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday [21/10].
“And never gave him a chance to go win any headers, all the headers seem to fall Matt Ritchie’s way and it’s not his strong point.”
OPINION
This clash was touted as a must-win game for Newcastle, so the fans will no doubt be frustrated that they were not able to pick up any points from a team in the bottom half of the table. Of all the teams that they could be playing, Brighton was certainly a team that they could get a result against. Nevertheless, Le Tissier is right – it was rather baffling that they stopped putting in crosses once Joselu came on. One of Joselu’s main threats is being good in the air, so it is strange that United did not make the most of this attribute when he came on – especially as they were a goal down. It is rather worrying that they do not fully recognise the strengths of one of their strikers – and this is something that they must get to grips with very quickly indeed.