ESPN pundit Craig Burley has slammed Newcastle United’s approach in their recent FA Cup quarter-final defeat at the hands of Manchester City.
Steve Bruce’s side lost 2-0 after Fabian Schar’s mistake gifted Kevin De Bruyne with the opportunity to fire his side ahead from the spot and the Belgian made no mistake.
Newcastle spurned a golden opportunity to draw the game level in the second period when Dwight Gayle missed from close range and the 29-year-old was made to rue that miss when Raheem Sterling went down the other end and doubled City’s lead.
Burley, a former Chelsea midfielder, was critical of the way the Toon set up and made his feelings clear on ESPN FC.
He said: “It was doomed for failure and on top of that you give away the soft penalty that Newcastle gave away, complete madness against one of the best teams in the country that you can’t get the ball off – it was always going to be a difficult afternoon.”
TIF Thoughts…
Manchester City enjoyed 76% of the possession on Sunday but we’re not entirely convinced that was by design from a Newcastle perspective. Pep Guardiola’s side also had 16 more attempts at goal than the Magpies (as per BBC Sport).
What did you make of Craig Burley's comments?
Fair
Harsh
Such was City’s dominance, Steve Bruce’s side was forced to defend for the most part and whilst Burley’s comments make sense to a degree, in our view, the hosts were unable to maintain possession and dictate play as opposed to them not wanting to.