Steve McClaren has had a difficult start to his reign as Newcastle United manager, with the Magpies yet to win a match so far this season. Outside90’s Anthony Margaretic takes an in-depth look at how the Geordies have fared over the first month of 2015-16.
They say the the table does not take shape until about 10 matches in, and Newcastle sitting in 19th does not reflect their performances in the first month of the season. Yes, they only have two points and have scored twice from four games, but looking at who they have played (Southampton and Arsenal at home, plus away trips to Swansea City and Manchester United), it has been a tough early road against four team’s likely to finish in the top-half.
First four games
Taking a look at the matches they have played in isolation, Newcastle should have taken the full rewards in the opening match against Southampton. Leading 2-1 with 15 minutes remaining, a defensive leak allowed Saints striker Shane Long to equalise and deny the Magpies what would have been a perfect start to the season.
The second week against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium has perhaps been the only disappointing performance from Steve McClaren’s side to date. Trailing 1-0 in the first-half, right back Daryl Janmaat was foolishly sent-off for a second bookable offence and from there Swansea dominated the match, going on to win 2-0 with goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski having a relatively relaxing afternoon.
Newcastle then made the daunting trip to Old Trafford to face an unbeaten Manchester United. Despite facing an attacking onslaught from the Red Devils, the Magpies defence was resolute and managed to collect their first clean sheet of the campaign in a scoreless draw. Three days later Newcastle had a straightforward 4-1 win in the League Cup over Northampton, with new French signing Florian Thauvin creating three goals and scoring one himself.
Confidence ahead of the visit to Arsenal was high, but an early red card shown to striker Aleksandr Mitrovic changed the course of the match, and despite a brave defensive performance, an unfortunate own goal from Fabricio Coloccini condemned the Magpies to a 1-0 defeat.
Transfer window performance
Unlike most other transfer windows for Newcastle, this one has been a large success, bringing in four new first team arrivals for a combined £48.5million, plus young striker Ivan Toney from Northampton. The major arrivals have been midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, striker Aleksandr Mitrovic, defender Chancel Mbemba and winger Thauvin.
Leaving St James Park have been Davide Santon, Ryan Taylor, Jonas Gutierrez, Mehdi Abeid and Olivier Kemen, while Remy Cabella, Haris Vuckic, Adam Armstrong and Sammy Ameobi have gone out on loan.
Key Player
In three out of Newcastle’s four games so far the Magpies have been under severe defensive pressure, which is why custodian Tim Krul has been pivotal to the results going somewhat favourably. After a less than impressive campaign last season, the Dutchman appears to have re-discovered his best form – most notably in the 0-0 draw against Manchester United, when a string of several fine saves kept the Red Devils at bay.
What has gone right?
One particular positive that can be taken out of the first month is the defensive improvements of the team. One player that deserves to take a large share of the credit for this is Mbemba. The Congolese defender was dubbed ‘the new Vincent Kompany’ and going on his early efforts, he is certainly justifying the tag. It also appears that Mbemba has improved the game of captain Coloccini. The Argentine skipper has come in for a lot of criticism but has a new lease of life playing alongside a Premier League quality partner, as opposed to Mike Williamson. who at this level is mediocre to say to least.
The proof is in seeing how the Magpies have progressed defensively. In the past, consecutive matches against Manchester United and Arsenal would have been a frightening prospect for the Geordies, but remarkably they only conceded once in those 180 minutes, which was an unlucky deflected goal.
What has gone wrong?
One aspect which McClaren needs to address and eradicate is the disciplinary problems in the squad. Two red cards in four games is unacceptable and if it carries on, will cost Newcastle several points this season. The main culprit of this is Mitrovic, who in his first match collected a yellow card after three seconds and then got a similar punishment after 90 seconds in his second match coming off the bench.
His dismissal against Arsenal after 15 minutes last weekend was arguably what cost Newcastle the match and whether or not referee Andre Mariner was right to administer the red card, Mitrovic should not give any official reason to book him by making a needless tackle, especially with his growing reputation as a hot head.
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Next four games
Newcastle begin September with an away trip to the inconsistent West Ham, which is followed by a very winnable home match against newly promoted Watford. They then host champions Chelsea before traveling to league leaders Manchester City in the first weekend of October. In the middle of these league fixtures is a home league cup tie against Championship side Sheffield Wednesday.
While the effort and performances this month has been a vast improvement on last season’s shambles, this is a results based industry and one gets the feeling Newcastle need to win sooner rather than later to calm the nerves. It is been a tough fixture list to start with and it would have been unfair to expect the Magpies to solve all their problems in a month, so expect them to improve even further over the coming rounds.
Grade – C+
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