Where Newcastle United went wrong at Bayer Leverkusen and a possible silver lining

Thanks to the wonderful generosity of the Dutch Geordies, I enjoyed the privilege of watching the Bayer Leverkusen v Newcastle United match from an excellent seat about 10 rows back.

It was in a prime touchline position, 40 yards or so from the goal-line.

My view of the first goal was partly obscured by Tonali and the man he was marking but my initial impression was Ramsdale could have done a lot more to intercept the corner kick before it reached them. That’s what I wrote in the early hours of Thursday, without the benefit of umpteen replays on television.

Never shy of sticking my head above the parapet, I blamed what looked in real time to be weak goalkeeping by our specialist in relegation.

Back in good old Blighty, I have made myself watch the incident six or seven times on a 55-inch TV, stopping and starting the action in a weak imitation of VAR.

Here are my observations.

We had nobody standing on the opponent who was standing on Ramsdale. There were six or seven Mags in and around the six-yard box but not one of them was protecting the keeper.

Ramsdale pushed away this opponent and thus his balance was moving towards the front post for a second or two at the moment the corner was taken. When the ball sailed over him to beyond the far post, he was in no position to leap and catch it or push it away from danger.

The last defender the ball flew over before a Bayer player headed it was Bruno G. He jumped to reach it but got nowhere near. Why was there not a tall United player at or on the far post?

Tonali was wrestled by the opponent who headed the ball. By then, Bruno was facing the wrong way, had his back to the ball and knew nothing about the deflection that sent it bouncing towards the net. Ramsdale was wrongfooted.

In summary, rank bad defending that should have no place in the Champions League match.

I don’t think Ramsdale did well but neither did any of his teammates with responsibility for defending the set-piece. In my book, they were all at fault.

What are the duties of our set-piece coach? I believe we also have a specialist goalkeeping coach. Should he not be telling Ramsdale to ensure the defenders around him at corners are in the optimum positions to minimise the risk of conceding?

We were doing reasonably well until we conceded that early goal. Slow in possession mostly and not mounting a threatening attack but not looking in much danger. For the rest of the first half, we managed one weak attempt on target and Ramsdale made two testing saves. No wonder Eddie told them to pull their finger out at half-time.

The late equaliser was a right sickener after we produced a superb comeback but the one point we did earn could turn out to be almost invaluable.

If you visit the Uefa website, you can look at last season’s Champions League results in detail and play a great prediction game for the remainder of the current Swiss League phase. Type in the forecast result of matchdays seven and eight. This will give you the completed table.

If we beat PSV we will be assured of at least a two-legged play-off in February. Anywhere between 9th and 24th is good enough, as you all know. What are the chances of a rematch against Bayer 04 in Leverkusen . . .

Eleven points was the minimum needed to reach the playoffs in 2024-25, although one team who finished on 11 did not qualify because of a rubbish goal difference. PSG finished the Swiss League phase in 15th place with 13 points. They did all right last season, didn’t they? Their opponents in the play-off round were Brest, who finished 18th and also had 13 points.

Twist my arm and I would put a bit of money on us ending on 13 points after eight games. I think that would give us every chance of making progress to the Round of 16.

Having fed all my Swiss League predictions into the Uefa computer, the completed table shows the team in 24th place are on eight points. They would, of course, be the lowest finishers to qualify for a two-legged playoff.

Newcastle are, of course, already on 10. I believe we almost certainly have enough already, with two games remaining, because many of the teams below us have dropped too many points.

The simulator says, if my 36 tips for matchdays seven and eight are correct, we will face either PSV (again) or Qarabag in the play-offs.

Dutch treat or a long haul to Azerbaijan, across four time zones in a February midweek? A tough choice, even with my sense of adventure.

A chance to enjoy a quick reunion with the Dutch Geordies would be irresistible . . .