Newcastle United

Newcastle United: Lee Ryder questions NUFC players’ motivation after Chelsea defeat

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Newcastle United journalist Lee Ryder has been questioning the motivation of the current crop of Toon players after watching them fall to a 2-0 defeat against Chelsea in the Premier League on Monday night.

This comes after Ryder recently made an appearance on the latest episode of The Chronicle’s Everything Is Black and White Podcast to reflect on the defeat against the west London side.

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Starting with an easy one, how much did Joelinton cost Newcastle when he swapped Hoffenheim for Tyneside?

During the podcast, Ryder had this to say on the Newcastle players’ current motivation levels based on what he saw from them against Chelsea.

He said: “I’m looking at this team and thinking the fight doesn’t seem to be there, and yes, they hung on against Southampton, but realistically, that game against Southampton, it should have been all over before the red card and they scrape the win in the end, and it was an important one for them because without it, they’d be in serious trouble now.

“I’m concerned, I’m deeply concerned about Newcastle at the moment.”

Two first-half goals from Olivier Giroud and Timo Werner secured the three points for Thomas Tuchel’s team, leaving Newcastle just one place above the relegation zone of the Premier League table, seven points ahead of 18th-placed Fulham, who have a game in hand.

TIF Thoughts on Lee Ryder’s comments on the Newcastle players’ motivation…

Given how Steve Bruce’s side were given a team rating of 6.38/10 by WhoScored for their collective display against Chelsea, this suggests that they were not at their best and therefore leading to Ryder questioning the players’ motivation to perform for the club with some justification.

Do you think these Newcastle players have lost their motivation?

Yes

Yes

No

No

Moving forward, if Bruce feels that his players aren’t giving their all for the club or don’t have the motivation to perform as a team, then it’s his responsibility to get the players on track and working together for the shirt and the fans supporting them from home.

Clearly, Ryder feels it will be more than results that are needed to get Newcastle out of long-term trouble.

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