1 thing I liked (and 4 I didn’t) from Newcastle’s 2-1 defeat at Brighton

Two Danny Welbeck goals bookended a delightful Nick Woltemade finish, and it’s such a crying shame that such a sumptuous goal is ultimately meaningless.

Here is one thing I liked (and four I didn’t) from the game:

Liked: Nick Woltemade shows his class (again) 

Only one (positive) place to start, and that was big Nick’s beautiful back-flicked finish, which briefly threatened to rescue a dire performance. Collecting a cross-box pass from Lewis Miley, the German realised the ball was a little behind him but managed to engineer a delightful finish with his right foot, to highlight how the class just oozes out of the lad.

Bullet headers, awesome penalties, flicked finishes, excellent link-up play— the 23-year-old seemingly has it all, and he is fast becoming a sensation on Tyneside. Individually, he has had the start of dreams in a new team, in a new league, in a new country, displaying an enviable level of adaptability, and joins Sir Les (and others) in scoring four goals in his first five starts for United.

The rest of the team (especially our underperforming wingers) need to step up and match his levels, and quickly.

Didn’t like: Woeful Elanga is becoming a concern (and a quick note on Gordon)

I’ve tried to be as optimistic as possible with the signing of Anthony Elanga. After it was confirmed, I considered the fee (something he is not responsible for, obviously) of £55m and weighed it against the value available on the continent. It’s poor value, pure and simple; you could’ve got players with comparable output (6 goals, 11 assists) last season (De Ketalaere as one random example) for less.

More worryingly, and I sure hope our scouting team were aware of this, Elanga was running red hot last year. His six goals came from an xG of just 4.5, and his 11 assists came at an xA of just 4.5 too (fbref).

Throw in the fact that the lad looked like he forgot how to even play football on Saturday (one especially egregious incident came about halfway through the first half when he had acres of space to launch a counter-attack using his rapid pace, but he instead checked back inside and wasted all the momentum), throw in zero goals and zero assists, and his start at United is the polar opposite of Woltemade’s.

Eddie Howe obviously realised it too and hooked the Swede at half-time, hopefully sparing his blushes, but Elanga must find some form soon, or he is going to be a very expensive mistake in the transfer market.

A quick note on Gordon too: stop saving your best performances for England, lad; no one on Tyneside cares, and you’re starting to flatter to deceive too.

Didn’t like: Eddie’s starting eleven

Eddie got it all wrong, I’m afraid. Bruno and Joelinton looked shagged after just 25 minutes, Elanga was honking, Burn was exposed, Gordon was ineffective, and Botman looked like he’d been at the Virgil Van **** school of defending the way he ran away from the ball (and the imminent danger) for Brighton’s opening goal.

Joelinton was rightly hooked at half-time after a terrible display in which he spent more time on his backside than he did standing up (yes, he was on the end of some rough stuff, but once you realise the ref was letting stuff like that go, I’m surprised Big Joe didn’t give any back). Bruno playing as long as he did partly cost us the second goal as after Ayari’s midfield-splitting pass, the Brazilian just couldn’t make up the ground on Welbeck, who is unmarked on the edge of the area. Both sat through an 11,000-mile+ round trip to Japan/South Korea during the week, and it showed. Considering the games were meaningless friendlies, couldn’t someone at the club have had a word and perhaps suggested they sit those games out?

Praise has been heaped on Malick Thiaw too, and the lad has done okay, but we’ve only won games against either poor sides (Forest) or sides from lower divisions (Bradford domestically, USG coefficient) when he has started.

Both centre-backs need to read the game better, as you could practically throw a blanket over them for Welbeck’s winner, but Thiaw has to push out and engage with the striker quicker as Botman and Tripper each have a player on the outside to worry about.

Burn isn’t a left-back, but we don’t have any other options at the minute, so there’s no point digging him out. He was exposed for a lack of pace, which was no great surprise to anyone, Dan probably chief among them.

Didn’t like: Losing another tight game late

That’s now Arsenal, Liverpool, and Brighton we have lost tight games to via goals conceded in the last ten minutes (and beyond), and it’s a habit that needs to be broken ASAP. Twelve points from eight games played isn’t stellar, but it would’ve looked a hell of a lot better on paper, with the gap to the top four only being three points.

Instead, United are anchored in lower mid-table (with the potential to drop lower on Sunday), six points off the top four and five off teams like Palace and Sunderland. Throw in the fact that it is now seven away league games in a row without a win (United haven’t won away from home since Leicester City on the 7th of April), and playing away from SJP is starting to become an Achilles heel for the side.

Sometimes it just doesn’t appear to be clear what the game plan is away from home, and even when United put in good displays, they still lose the game, like at the Emirates at the back end of last season.

Thankfully, the next three games are at home (Benfica, Fulham, and Spurs), and winning all three could light the touchpaper of our season, but the pressure is really being heaped on our home games by our inability to win on the road.

This likes and dislikes has been a dirge, and I apologise for that, but we have seen Eddie turn around bad starts to a season before to a silverware-winning effect, and I’d back him to do it again.

Keep the faith. HWTL