A lot of Newcastle United fans have responded to a tweet from NUFC 360, which has relayed comments made by David Thompson on the BBC’s Football Daily podcast.
Speaking after Newcastle beat Sheffield United 3-0, Thompson claimed that the Toon have the worst squad in the Premier League, which has not gone down well with these Newcastle fans.
Such a ridiculous comment. Villa for example is a championship team with Jack Grealish the only worthwhile player.
— Andrew Greener (@greener_andrew) June 22, 2020
I heard him say that on the BBC Football Daily Podcast and then switched it off not long after. He was talking garbage.
— ?? King of Northumbria ?? (@Sandancer1977) June 22, 2020
He is such a relic. Embarrassing that him and Lawro still get air time.
— Richard Clarke (@Lord_Beer) June 22, 2020
Bruce’s mate
— Engage (@iancoates1963) June 22, 2020
I listened to that football daily podcast as well. A throw away rubbish comment
— steven bell (@steviebe) June 22, 2020
Thompson was trying to defend the job Steve Bruce has done (30:40), but considering in the last two seasons the Toon have finished in 10th and 13th respectively, it seems odd to say they have the worst squad in the league.
Do Newcastle have one of the worst squads in the league?
No
Yes
They lost Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez last summer, which accounted for 23 Premier League goals.
They also spent £61.56m last summer to provide Bruce with the squad he has now, and though they have scored the joint-second least goals in the league, they are currently in 13th place in the league – 11 points off the relegation zone.
Is this because Bruce has got more from the players, or is it because the squad isn’t that bad?
These Newcastle fans feel it is the latter.
We have a top 10 squad with a bottom 10 manager.
— Angel ? (@AngelNUFC) June 22, 2020
I’d say there are 11 teams with better squads than us. We’re performing just about where we should be
— Inzaghistory (@inzaghistory) June 22, 2020
It’s not the worst but has one of the worst managers in the league. The difference is that he was lucky a lot of times this year. I can easily say that 12-16 of the points we have were lucky games, last minutes goal. Matches that we were very poor and managed to win.
— Henrique Netto (@henriquenettoo) June 22, 2020
Jamaal Lascelles, for example, has made 103 Premier League appearances and was linked with a move to Liverpool a couple of years ago – so is he that bad?
Jonjo Shelvey has six England caps, with there being some demand for him to go to the World Cup in 2018, and he has made 205 Premier League appearances.
Then as a final example, there is Allan Saint-Maximin, who averages a 7.23 rating in the Premier League this season, so he has proved that he is a good player this season.
Bruce has done a good job, and the Toon are only two points behind Arsenal with eight games to go, but to call Newcastle the worst squad in the league (31:30) seems to be an over-exaggeration.