Great support can't stop Newcastle United's car crash defending as relegation fears worsen

After the lofty highs of a 1-0 win over Burnley, Newcastle United came crashing back down to earth at Leicester City on Sunday afternoon.
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A Youri Tielemans brace along with goals from Patson Daka and James Maddison secured a comfortable 4-0 victory for The Foxes at The King Power Stadium.

Our writer Dominic Scurr delivers his five takeaways from the game…

Nothing changes

Joelinton of Newcastle United looks dejected after the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)Joelinton of Newcastle United looks dejected after the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Joelinton of Newcastle United looks dejected after the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
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Both sides had experienced contrasting weeks building up to the game. Newcastle had a spring in their step following their first win of the season against Burnley last weekend.

Fans were also in high spirits because of the removal of all Sport Direct advertisements from St James’s Park through the week.

Meanwhile, Leicester City had been hit by Covid-19 and illness and exited the Europa League on Thursday night with a 3-2 defeat at Napoli.

Eddie Howe adopted an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it’ policy with his team selection as he named an unchanged side against The Foxes. Only to soon find out that the side was still in fact ‘broke’.

A general view inside the stadium as the LED screen displays the score line as 4-0 during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)A general view inside the stadium as the LED screen displays the score line as 4-0 during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
A general view inside the stadium as the LED screen displays the score line as 4-0 during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
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Having said that, Newcastle made a positive start to the game at The King Power. Miguel Almiron hit the side netting early on while Callum Wilson and Fabian Schar also came close without testing Kasper Schmeichel.

After 10-minutes, the depleted Leicester side looked there for the taking. Jonny Evans had gone off injured and Timothy Castagne had been booked for a foul on Allan Saint-Maximin.

Newcastle had nothing to fear based on the early stages, but Leicester soon started to turn the screw.

The ‘dive’

Youri Tielemans of Leicester City celebrates after scoring their side's first goal during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)Youri Tielemans of Leicester City celebrates after scoring their side's first goal during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Youri Tielemans of Leicester City celebrates after scoring their side's first goal during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

The game had been fairly evenly poised as half-time approached. Then Newcastle started passing it around the back as Leicester pressed.

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A dangerous pass from Jamaal Lascelles saw Jonjo Shelvey lose possession as Maddison burst into the area before going down under a challenge from the Newcastle captain.

Referee Peter Bankes pointed straight to the penalty spot and VAR didn’t intervene despite replays showing Maddison had made the most of Lascelles’ planted leg.

Newcastle legend Alan Shearer suggested Maddison had dived as he appeared to be already going over before any contact was made.

Allan Saint-Maximin of Newcastle United reacts during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)Allan Saint-Maximin of Newcastle United reacts during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Allan Saint-Maximin of Newcastle United reacts during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Newcastle United at The King Power Stadium on December 12, 2021 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

The Leicester man was certainly looking for it as he slyly punished Lascelles for more defensive rashness.

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It’s the sixth penalty United have conceded this season and the third caused by the captain.

And once again, Newcastle found themselves trailing due to a needless defensive lapse. Leicester hadn’t outplayed them, they just simply applied a bit of pressure and they folded.

These fine moments in games can have a snowball effect and, once again, the side were guilty of shooting themselves in the foot. Unfortunately, they brought out a higher calibre weapon for the second half.

Defensive disaster

As much as Newcastle could be frustrated to be behind at the break, their second half defensive display gifted Leicester three points.

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12-minutes after the restart, Newcastle switched off as Harvey Barnes beat the offside trap to latch onto Maddison’s dinked pass and put the ball on a plate for Daka to stroke into an empty net. An open goal tap-in against the side 19th to make it 2-0 apparently merited an impressive series of acrobatic flips from the Zambia international.

Last weekend’s positive clean sheet against Burnley looked like an anomaly based on Sunday’s showing as Newcastle’s defence was exposed as Championship standard once again.

Fabian Schar and Lascelles appeared to be marking one another at times instead of those in blue. Javier Manquillo was consistently out of position and played a hospital pass to Jacob Murphy in the build-up to Leicester’s third, converted by Tielemans.

Jamal Lewis has been handed a new lease of life under Howe and is probably the one defender who would be hard done by to lose his place for the next game, but it’s clear that problems need addressing at the back.

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There has been a lot of noise regarding Federico Fernandez in recent weeks following his strong performance off the bench against Norwich. He may not be the perfect answer Newcastle desperately need but he is certainly the best suited to paper over the defensive cracks until the transfer window opens in the new year.

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Back to reality

Newcastle fans aren’t hard to please. A 1-0 home win against Burnley and some Sports Direct signs coming down and the atmosphere surrounding would make you think they’d just reached a cup final.

It’s a complete juxtaposition to reality as the club remain very much in relegation trouble with the fear of the drop only intensifying after suffering their heaviest defeat of the season on Sunday.

Yet throughout the disappointing afternoon in the East Midlands, the sold-out away end continued to back the Newcastle players. There has been an attitude adjustment on Tyneside following the takeover and appointment of Howe.

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It’s great to see. But as much as supporters can help their team see results over the line, they are helpless in preventing car crash defending happening time and time again.

Following the defeat, Howe suggested his side were hard done by the 4-0 scoreline. Statistically, they had more possession and shots than the The Foxes but the closest they came to scoring all afternoon was when Castagne almost pinged the ball into his own net.

Worse before it gets better?

Newcastle had the chance to completely close the gap between them and 17th to just goal difference. They failed to do that and their goal difference took a significant knock in the process.

Results went their way over the weekend and they still find themselves three points adrift from safety. That gap is guaranteed to be at least four when they travel to Liverpool on Thursday (8pm kick-off) as 18th placed Burnley host 17th placed Watford on Wednesday (7:30pm kick-off).

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And with champions Manchester City and Manchester United to follow – even the most optimistic fans would struggle to envisage the gap being any smaller come the new year.

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