"Brainless And Lazy" - Pundits' Views On Newcastle's Loss To Swansea

The pundits certainly did not hold back in their criticism of the Magpies...

Newcastle United€™s naive performance in their 2-0 loss to Swansea City highlighted a hidden ignorance unearthed by their muddled point against Southampton last weekend - and the footballing pundits have lambasted them for that. The Swans had a philosophy and the players executed it perfectly, whereas Steve McClaren€™s side hopelessly tried to emulate their opponents€™ possession-based system despite having neither. The Magpies€™ nervous attempts at splitting the centre-backs and replacing them with Vurnon Anita looked extremely raw and, even prior to Daryl Janmaat€™s inexcusable sending-off, they were outclassed by Garry Monk€™s well-oiled unit. Surprisingly Janmaat hadn€™t done his homework last week despite Jefferson Montero€™s exceptional performance against Chelsea€™s Branislav Ivanovic being reported almost as much as the situation with the Blues€™ club doctor. The Dutch defender simply couldn€™t handle the Swansea winger€™s pace and, after being humiliated by the Ecuadorian a handful of times, he decided to foul him four times in the first-half, two deemed worthy of yellow cards by referee Mike Jones, who gave the Dutchman his marching orders. Game over. Bafetimbi Gomis and Andre Ayew grabbed the goals as Monk€™s side eased to a 2-0 win. While it€™s still early days for McClaren€™s Newcastle side there were harrowing flashes of last season€™s dismal commitment, work-rate and technical ability that was supposed to have been eradicated after the Southampton game. Here, WhatCulture.com/NUFC pick out the best - and most vociferous - of the pundits' views on Newcastle's 2-0 loss at the Liberty Stadium...

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Contributor

NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.