It wasn’t the first time The Magpies have lost this season, but Sheffield Wednesday were the first team to outplay Newcastle.
Former Newcastle United striker Mick Quinn suggested on Twitter that Rafael Benitez’s players have switched off after their 1-0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day.
The Magpies suffered their fourth home defeat of the season after Glenn Loovens’ second half header secured the three points for Carlos Carvalhal’s visitors, with Newcastle devoid of direction or creativity in the absence of the suspended Jonjo Shelvey.
In fact, home goalkeeper Karl Darlow was forced into three exceptional stops with Wednesday coming far closer to finding a second than Newcastle were to grabbing an equaliser.
Benitez’s league leaders have now lost four of their last eleven games, and Quinn took to Twitter to express his frustration with the performance, not to mention the result.
Each of the last eight teams to lead the second tier table at Christmas have gone on to secure promotion, but the gap between Newcastle and third placed Reading has now dropped to just six points.
Top scorer Dwight Gayle suffered in Shelvey’s absence, with Aleksandar Mitrovic once again left on the bench and Quinn – who starred up front for Newcastle between 1989 and 1992 – believes Benitez needs to switch tactics.
Newcastle next welcome Nottingham Forest, who secured a scrappy 2-1 win over the nine-man Magpies earlier in the season, to St James’ on December 30th.
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