OPINION
Newcastle United fans are undoubtedly very frustrated on Sunday after they surrendered their 2-0 lead over Manchester United on Saturday.
The Red Devils fought back to earn a 3-2 win over the Magpies, and many will feel very hard done by after United defied expectations in the first half.
However, midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has come out to defend Rafa Benitez’ defensive tactics when they took a two goal lead – but he could not be more clueless.
“When you are 2-0 up away from home you always try to protect a lead. People will be sitting on their sofas back home but they aren’t the ones playing on the football pitch. t’s a totally different story when you are out there and up against the quality of opposition like that,” he told NUFC TV.
There is no doubting that Benitez would have wanted to take a defensive approach after unexpectedly going in front – but seeming as these tactics have not worked in previous fixtures, why would they work against a team like Manchester United?
The best way to overcome teams with such quality is to attack time and time again, as it will eventually rattle them – just like Wolves did when they earned a 1-1 draw with Manchester City a few weeks back.
They did not succumb to the quality that City have, and were not afraid to take the game to them – and look where that has got them now.
After Benitez deployed these tactics, everything just fell apart for the Magpies – but the Spaniard should know better than to just sit back and defend.
A 2-0 scoreline is very dangerous indeed and Newcastle have only gone to reinforce that by allowing Jose Mourinho’s side to fight back for the win.
Everybody knows that Newcastle have not been successful in the past with these tactics – and Benitez must change the way he thinks if he wants to guide his team out of trouble.
