History, it seems, is on a cruel loop for Newcastle United. In the dying embers of a Champions League clash they had bravely fought to lead, the same old flaw cracked wide open. Alex Grimaldo’s 88th minute equaliser for Bayer Leverkusen sparked bedlam in the BayArena and left a trail of stunned Magpies Aaron Ramsdale raging, Dan Burn with head in hands. Another precious victory ripped away at the death.
“You have to stand up and be counted and we didn’t do it well enough,” a frustrated Eddie Howe admitted post match. “That’s a team thing, the whole group realising the importance of defending our goal.” The numbers are damning. That’s nine goals conceded in the final ten minutes of games this season across all competitions. In the Premier League, only Nottingham Forest have a worse record. “It all comes back to mentality,” said scorer Anthony Gordon. “We have to hold out in these games because that is what top teams do.”
The rot set in early. Despite fielding a strong side, Newcastle’s recent set piece jitters returned inside a quarter of an hour. Leverkusen skipper Robert Andrich bullied Sandro Tonali at a corner, his header deflecting off Bruno Guimaraes and in. “We’re not doing it well enough,” Gordon fumed. “Again it comes back to mentality. We need to be stronger.” It’s a painful pattern. From Cristian Romero’s late leveller for Spurs to Burnley’s penalty and nervy finish days ago, Newcastle’s defence of dead balls has turned porous.
To their credit, Howe’s men scrapped back. A second half penalty, won by Nick Woltemade’s hustle, was converted before Gordon turned provider for sub Lewis Miley’s header to complete the turnaround. But a lead is no longer safe with this Newcastle side. They’ve now dropped a league high 11 points from winning positions. They’ve failed to win four of their last five away games despite leading in all of them. As legs tired, they dropped deep, and Grimaldo’s clever dummy and finish did the rest. “I don’t think it’s ever a case of sitting back,” Howe claimed. “But you need to do whatever it takes to win.”
The broader picture is a precarious one. While they remain in the hunt for knockout qualification just points off the automatic spots their fate is shadowed by this glaring fragility. They host a resurgent PSV next before a daunting final day trip to Paris Saint Germain. “It leaves us in a good position, it’s in our hands,” Howe insisted to TNT Sports. But unless they learn, and fast, how to slam a door shut, those hands are likely to be full of more spilled points. The Toon’s time bomb defence keeps ticking, and the biggest games are yet to come.
