Originally Posted by Sick Bullet:
“Benteke Allen Lucas and Milner are my issues, I'm not scared to name them.
In midfield today felt so empty.”
Lucas I can forgive, because he's been immense in most other games this season and it isn't his job to be assisting with the attack. Allen and Milner on the other hand offered absolutely nothing going forward (other than Milner's wonderful ball to Moreno for his 'goal') and it's probably where we lost the game. Firmino was forced to come too deep in the first half, and then when he was replaced we resorted to long balls into the box. No one in the centre was capable of creating anything, and I have no idea why Henderson didn't come on.
Benteke's movement isn't good. There were times today when he was way too static, and it just wasn't doing anything to cause the Newcastle defence any issues. Compare that to the 1st Newcastle goal where Perez made a very good run to drag Clyne away from Wijnaldum and you can see the difference a mobile striker can make. Hell, even Sturridge had an opportunity not long after he came on due to intelligent movement (although he really should have hit the target).
MOTM for me (if I HAD to pick one) was Moreno. Not only was he robbed of a delicious goal, but he was one of the few players that didn't misplace a million passes. He put in a few decent balls today, but no one was there to meet most of them.