Newcastle United defender Ciaran Clark wants the Magpies to learn from the mistakes that cost them at least a point in Saturday’s defeat to Tottenham.
The 6″2 [Transfermarkt] defender partnered Jamaal Lascelles in the centre of defence yesterday afternoon, which was his first league start since February, and admitted they could have done more to prevent both Tottenham goals.
He was quoted by the club’s website as saying: “The first one was a set piece and when we look back at that we’ll think that’s a bit sloppy from us, to be honest. Just after we’d scored they went and got the second one, and that’s more concentration than anything really. But it’s just one of those things, and we need to learn from that.”
United conceded two goals in the first-half from Jan Vertonghen and Dele Alli, with the equaliser coming from Joselu.
The centre-back – who is on £35,000 a week [Spotrac] – went on to add: “We’re disappointed, but we’ll take the positives out of that. We showed good attitude and good character in the second half. We’ll take the positives out of that and hopefully put that right next week against Cardiff.”
OPINION
Newcastle United were unlucky not to have gained at least a point in yesterday’s match, especially when Kenedy missed a sitter when one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Clark is right – there are a lot of positives to take from the performance. They did not perform incredibly badly, but they should have taken their chances when presented with them, especially against a team like Tottenham. The new signings showed signs of promise in their substitute appearances – namely Salomon Rondon and Yoshinori Muto – so it will be interesting to see what they have learned in this defeat to take into their next match against Cardiff. The first match back is always the hardest, and the Magpies had it tough against one of the best teams in the league. What they can take from the match is that they had plenty of opportunities to score, and performed well in the midfield thanks to the talent of Kenedy – and fans will have their fingers crossed for a positive result next week.
