Andy Jacobs blasted Newcastle United defender Ciaran Clark for his poor marking of Manchester United star Harry Maguire during Sunday’s game.
The talkSPORT host claimed that Maguire walked around Clark in order to have a free header at goal and if he hadn’t missed the target and scored at that moment than the Magpies centre-back would have cost his side the game.
“Yeah but Maguire’s header! It’s not just the fact he missed but Ciaran Clark… he sort of walked around Ciaran Clark, you’ve got to try and mark him a bit better than that!” said Jacobs on talkSPORT (14:37, Monday, October 7th).
“Had that gone in, they probably would have won the game.”
Newcastle ended up winning Sunday’s clash with Manchester United 1-0 after Matty Longstaff scored the only goal of the game in the 72nd minute.
OPINION
After such a feel-good moment for Newcastle, it seems harsh of Jacobs to single out Clark for criticism. There’s no denying the centre-back should have marked Maguire closer, as he should have headed the ball home after Ashley Young whipped a corner into the box during the first half, but he got away with it and the rest of performance was acceptable. Clark made two tackles, two interceptions, two clearances to do his part to stop Man United having clear-cut chances at goal, and he did constantly try to set his side on the attack by firing the ball forward as he attempted six long balls during Sunday (Source: WhoScored). Also does the 30-year-old not deserve some slack considering it was his first Premier League outing of the season? Steve Bruce opted to throw Clark into the deep end against a wounded Man United side after the Magpies loss 5-0 to Leicester City last weekend, and many other players would have struggled to get up to the speed of the game like he did. This is especially the case when you consider the centre-back didn’t even make the bench for the previous clashes with Leicester City and Brighton.
