3. McClaren Isn't The Attacking Coach He's Been Billed As
We've heard all summer long how Steve McClaren is
planning to bring the attractive, attacking football back to Newcastle United this season... Yes, the passing is getting there, or trying to at least, but the Swansea game proved McClaren is a much more of a 'damaged limitations' sort of guy rather than someone who will openly look to be on the front foot. United, who were down to 10 men at this stage and at the mercy of the home side, played over 27 minutes of the second half with no striker on the pitch after Papiss Cisse was replaced by Rolando Aarons. The winger found himself furthest up the pitch from a Magpies' perspective for much of this time, as did Jack Colback - arguably the least 'strikerish' player in the United midfield. This, I'm sure to any paying Toon fan that attended the game in Wales, is unforgivable. Rightly, McClaren eventually introduced a striker in the form of Aleksandar Mitrovic after 82 minutes but any chance of Newcastle getting back into the game had long gone. Steve McClaren, after the sending off, was obviously HAPPY with a 2-0 defeat. Tactics like this won't endear him to the Magpies faithful one iota... Newcastle had absolutely nothing to lose after Daryl Janmaat's dismissal, they should have played that way...