Stan Collymore has hit out at Newcastle United for their 5-0 defeat to Leicester City on Sunday, claiming that the Magpies’ players “didn’t try”.
Steve Bruce’s men now find themselves in the bottom three after seven games following a humbling at the hands of the Foxes, and Collymore pulled no punches in his assessment.
Speaking in a clip shared to his personal Twitter account, he said: “One bad performance, two or three good ones, another diabolical one. That is heading one way, and that will be relegation.
“Whatever your philosophy, consistency has to be at the heart of that.
“The biggest criticism you can ever make of a football team is that they didn’t try. I’m accusing Newcastle United, their players, of not trying against Leicester City.”
OPINION
These are harsh words from Collymore, but honestly, there can be little rebuttal from a Newcastle side who looked completely devoid of any quality against the Foxes on Sunday. 5-0 was a thrashing, but really, it could have been a whole lot worse. Jamaal Lascelles came out and slammed his side for a “terrible” performance, as per Sky Sports, but it was he who turned tail and ran away from danger for the first goal. Things weren’t much better on the front foot, and United now have the dubious honour of having registered the fewest shots on goal of any side in the Premier League this season, as per the league themselves, as well as managing the second lowest amount of passes, bettering only Burnley in that regard. The Toon Army were drab and dreary against Leicester, and as uncomfortable a reality it might be to face up to, it was the performance of a side who could easily go down this term.
