Newcastle letting fans down with poor displays, says Phil Thompson
Sunday 20 September 2015 12:05, UK
Sky Sports pundit Phil Thompson has criticised Newcastle's lacklustre display against Watford and believes their new signings are letting the fans down.
ThompsonNewcastle invested more than £50m in players during the summer transfer window, yet they remain firmly in the Premier League relegation zone on two points.
Steve McClaren's side lost 2-1 to Watford at St James' Park on Saturday afternoon and they haven't secured a point at home since their opening day 2-2 draw with Southampton.
Thompson believes Newcastle are struggling in all areas of the pitch and feels Florian Thauvin, in particular, is failing to live up to his billing following his £13m move from Marseille.
There is not really enough in this side to excite the Newcastle fans.
He told Soccer Saturday: "There is not really enough in this side to excite the Newcastle fans. There is not enough defensively to think, well can get a few clean sheets here.
"Wijnaldum was nowhere to be seen in the first half [against Watford]. Thauvin he's awful, he just runs with the ball all the time, there's never any end product. He looks very lightweight, and gets pushed off by a lot of physical players. He runs down a lot of blind alleys. There's no sort of creativity from him at all."
Thompson reserved special criticism for Papiss Cisse, arguing that after a lacklustre display on Monday Night Football in his side's 2-0 loss against West Ham, he similarly failed to make an impact against Watford.
"The biggest disappointment is Cisse. I questioned whether he would play, or should play and he was on from the start. He was off at half-time. He was dreadful, he probably had the best [Newcastle] chance besides the goal they scored."
Newcastle face Chelsea at home and Manchester City away in their next two Premier League fixtures and Thompson does not see them reversing their current slump.
"I think I sometimes say it is a free swing and that's what they like sometimes," he added.
"They can sit back soak things up and counter. Nobody expects something of them, maybe they can counter-attack Chelsea, but are they good enough to keep anyone out. I'm not sure they are."
