Easy 10
Brain dead MUG SHEEP
They haven't been doing that though, even with a back three. Cucurella has had a couple of subpar performances and Lamptey hasn't been the player he was before the injury.
In Lamptey's case, he's just been marked out of games. Still manages to produce a few crosses (usually our biggest goalscoring threat), but it is infuriating how often they get to good positions, stop, check back and pass sideways to a weaker position than they were in.
I want to see Lamptey try and go by his man every time, not one in ten. Cucurella doesn't have that option, but a little bit more positivity is welcome.
This is because we haven't been moving the ball quickly enough IMO. Too many ponderous build-ups where the opposition is comfortably set by the time it reaches Lamptey/Cuc. The transition through MF needs to be much swifter to take advantage of our wingbacks bombing forward into space. We need some greasy first-time balls down the flanks, rather than turning backwards looking for the simple pedestrian pass.
Newcastle are on a decent run of late, but we DO have the tools to unlock them.