Watford 2-1 Newcastle - The 'Index 6'

After the surge of optimism following a home draw with Manchester United and an impressive home win against West Ham last week, the storm clouds reformed yesterday, ready to unleash themselves again over Steve McClaren and his [not so] merry band of players, adding further gloom to what is already another dreary, dismal season for Newcastle United. Make no mistake, this dreadful defeat to an injury-ravaged Watford side that, with all due respect to them and their fans, should be being put to the sword by a Newcastle team that cost millions, is a body blow which refutes the claims of McClaren that we had finally turned the proverbial corner, and diminishes the chance of avoiding the drop in a season that continues to dumbfound, frustrate and anger the fans. As usual, it is a case of one step forward and two steps back.

Usually I look at six things we have learned from the game for the Index 6, but this week I’ve decided to do it a little differently. I will be looking at six reasons we lost this game, and ultimately why we sit in the perilous position in which we currently languish.

So here, in no particular order, is my take on things:

Tactics and changing to a formation that the players clearly don’t like or fully understand their roles in.

Newcastle played three at the back at Watford, and it didn’t work. The last time they played this formation was…at Watford, in the FA Cup tie…and it didn’t work then either. Even with injuries, the decision was a strange one. It would have made a lot more sense to play one player out of position as a makeshift full-back, than to change the whole system to one that hasn’t worked when they’ve tried it previously. Personally, and I am not on a multi-million pound salary to make these decisions, I would have played Jamaal Lascelles and Fabricio Coloccini in the middle, switched Daryl Janmaat, as an experienced full-back to the left, and put Chancel Mbemba to right-back giving him the added cover of Moussa Sissoko chasing back to help him out. This, in my opinion would have kept the balance of the side; nullified, to a certain extent, the lack of defensive cover; and left the players comfortable in their roles within a system that they are used to. This final point is pertinent as it was clear for all to see that the system was completely alien to the players. They didn’t seem to understand their roles, and begs the question of whether they actually do any work on the system in training. On the evidence of two visits to Watford in the last few weeks, the answer seems to be no.

A failure to acknowledge that a defender is still a priority signing for the club.

Regardless of formations and tactics, the fact that all the talk and rumours coming from “club sources” and “insiders” are that the focus of transfer activity is on a winger and a striker – the latter being a matter of urgency – and that no consideration seems to be given to reinforcing an already fragile looking defence, is either arrogance and over-confidence, or blind stupidity. The lack of cover, particularly in the full-back areas is unacceptable. Other than Janmaat and Paul Dummett, we have the seemingly always injured Massadio Haidara and the young, inexperienced Kevin Mbabu. After that it’s left to Vurnon Anita and Jack Colback to play out of position. Surely, as we were once told, the idea was to have at least two players for every position, thus providing competition and cover. Yet, here we are, having to play a Premier League game with an untested formation as we do not have enough full backs to call upon. Hopefully, if any good can come from this defeat, it will be an acknowledgement from the footballing board that we need to bring in a full back in the next week or so.

Mitrovic’s finishing.

This has been a growing concern for fans as the season is dragging on. It is widely acknowledged that Aleksander Mitrovic can hold a ball up as well as anyone I have seen – certainly in a Newcastle United shirt – since Alan Shearer. However, holding the ball up is great, but the primary job of a striker is to find the net, something that Mitrovic is struggling to do. The hope is that it is just a lack of form which will rectify itself sooner rather than later.

Mitrovic spurned a couple of good chances at Vicarage Road, and it is a similar pattern to his performances most weeks. More worrying, for me, is his lack of pace. When I mentioned this on Twitter yesterday, I was told in a reply that it’s not his fault he has no pace, you either have it or you don’t. This is quite right, and I accept that. However, surely Graham Carr knew about his pace when scouting him before buying him. If that is the case, then it stands to reason that, having decided that he is the man we need, we should set out our team to play to his strengths. I do have some sympathy for Mitrovic, as this is clearly something that McClaren’s teams are not doing.

Firstly, Mitro does hold the ball up well, but more often than not, he is expected to hold the ball up for himself, as he is often left isolated up front on his own. Secondly, when you have someone with the physical presence, height and strength of the Serbian, then you should be getting the ball wide as much as possible, and hit the by-line to whip crosses in for Mitrovic to overpower the defenders, and score goals using his head. This is why bringing in a quality winger would benefit him, but equally important will be the presence of a strike partner on a consistent basis alongside him.

Obviously, the powers that be see Andros Townsend and Saido Berahino as those two players. They either need to bite the bullet and pay the money to get them in, or change tact completely, and find another striker to replace, as oppose to complementing, the big man. So the answer seems easy – If they were certain in the summer that Mitrovic is the main man, then they must build the team around him. Whether that proves to be the right option (and I have my doubts), only time will tell. None of this, however, excuses the fact that he has missed some big chances that would have changed games. He must start scoring goals.

A stubbornness from Lee Charnley and Graeme Carr to deviate from a transfer target short-list of [seemingly] one player for each position.

Some of this point was made in the previous article. However, it is crucial that Newcastle act now to bring in the players they need. I understand they have their priority targets, and they can’t be faulted for that. However, they need to have a back-up list, and I am sure they do. The problem is that they seem so intent and focused on the A-list, that they are in danger of leaving it too late to revert to plan B. From what we hear, Tottenham and West Brom have chairmen that are notoriously difficult to barter with. Fans of other clubs may well say the same about ours.

The point is, that it was apparently obvious to everyone from the start, that the only way the Berahino and Townsend deals are going to be struck is by paying the money they are asking for, and cutting your losses to get them through the door. Playing the brinkmanship game, a high stakes game of chicken if you like, with these two clubs is fraught with danger, and, in all likelihood, just going to make them dig their heels in further, and simply say no to whatever offers are put their way. The time it is taking to get a definitive answer though is leaving very little time to approach, negotiate and sign any alternatives. Personally, I am still not sure that Berahino is the answer to our goal-scoring problems.

Is he a prolific 15 goal a season player? I hope so, but I strongly doubt it. Having said that, I am not the one in a position to decide. What I do know is, if they really believe that he, and Townsend, are the solution, then they need to either stump up or shut up, before it comes down to the mayhem of deadline day and we end up with a sub-standard alternative for an exorbitant, inflated fee.

Mike Ashley.

The blame has often been laid at Mike Ashley’s door, but usually for not spending the money, or for renaming the stadium, or for using the ground as an advertising hoarding for his company. Well, he can’t, for once, be blamed for not spending the money. He has loosened the purse strings, and finally put his money where his (seldom heard) mouth is. The reason I am putting a chunk of the blame his way is for his decision to put his faith in Lee Charnley. As Newcastle’s demise becomes increasingly apparent, and almost inevitable, the more his decision to hand the responsibility of footballing matters to a non-footballing man seems absurd.

Charnley seems out of his depth, and struggles to maintain any level of faith or hope from the supporters in his ability to get the job done. Ashley should have brought an established footballing director in to oversee the club. Someone with the experience of dealing with other footballing chairmen and agents. It is not an easy task with delicate negotiations, and often pedantic demands becoming deal-breakers in the world of overpaid, spoilt footballers and clubs. Should the club fail to bring in the striker, full back and winger that they desperately need before the transfer window ends, and the result becomes a season that continues to spiral out of control before resulting in seasons of oblivion in the wilderness of the Championship, or maybe even worse, then Ashley’s decision to hand the reigns to a footballing novice – who is adrift at sea without a rudder or a paddle to steer him home – could prove to be his biggest mistake yet.

Steve McClaren’s apparent inability to see the wood for the trees.

I thought Newcastle were in a precarious position before, but having heard the comments of our manager after the latest capitulation has the alarm bells ringing even louder in my ears. For McClaren to say that he thought we were “tremendous” and “terrific” yesterday is like me trying to tell my eight-year-old that he should eat his broccoli because it is tastier than Haribo! He either thinks the fans are foolish enough to believe his utter nonsense, or he is so ignorant of the truth that he genuinely believes it himself. Frankly, we were awful. We were a ‘team’ of 11 individuals, with most of them oblivious to what was expected from them. We created little, and wasted what we did. We were second best in midfield, and outshone by a Watford side that played for each other, and seemingly wanted it more than we did.

If this constitutes a “terrific” performance to McClaren, then I fear for us. We are going nowhere under his stewardship…well…that is not completely true…because we are actually heading for relegation. I hope he was saying words that he thought the players needed to hear. Trying to big them up, so as not to admonish them in public, and spur them on to better performances in the coming weeks.

Whatever his reasons, I sincerely hope that they were not because he really did think we played well. If it is, I would genuinely like to sit down and have a one on one conversation with him, so that I (a mere fan that writes a lot) can explain to him (a professional football manager paid a fortune) what constitutes a good performance, and why performances like yesterday’s are utterly unacceptable to fans that spend their wages on travelling up and down the country to watch them underperform week in, week out!