Newcastle rue costly individual errors against Barcelona as Magpies exit Champions League with heavy loss

Despite a hugely impressive attacking display in the first half, Newcastle suffered several blows in the second in what became a bruising defeat.

Newcastle United’s season has been unrelenting. The club and its supporters have enjoyed massive highs whilst also enduring crushing lows. In Barcelona, the 10,000 Geordies who had made the journey were hoping for one of the former, which for 45 minutes looked possible, until it swiftly became the latter.

One night at the Camp Nou was a microcosm for the whole campaign. It showcased Newcastle at their brilliant attacking best, whilst also highlighting the horrors of individual errors in defence. As a result, any meaningful analysis of the mistakes made in this game, is perhaps, foolish. This is just how Newcastle have performed this year.

Eddie Howe, in the raw aftermath of a harrowing second half, captured the essence of what had occurred rather well, making clear that “as well as we played in the first half, and I thought we were outstanding in many aspects, we had too many individual errors within the performance to carry that great performance through”.

The bigger and more pressing question is, what can be done about those errors? They have plagued Newcastle’s season, and on this occasion, led to a 7-2 loss, in a game that was at one stage, there for the taking.

Aside from the errors, Howe was right in his assessment that Newcastle had been “outstanding” in the first half in an attacking sense. Anthony Elanga scored, what appeared at the time, to be two historic goals. The first especially, was a magnificent sight to be hold. But even though Newcastle scored two, Barcelona netted three.

Two slips led to the first from Raphinha. Marc Bernal grabbed the second after Dan Burn dropped too early at a set piece, and Kieran Trippier gave away a penalty for the third, which was tucked away by Lamine Yamal. An early Barcelona goal in the second half from Fermín López then opened the floodgates for further lapses, and that was that in terms of Newcastle’s Champions League adventure for this season.

Of course, the skill and technical ability of the likes of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Pedri amongst others, is hard to ignore. They stepped up a level in the second half and deserve credit for doing so. But Newcastle should take heart from the fact that they had to.

What should help Newcastle going forward from this, will be playing fewer matches from now until the end of the season, but even that argument is tainted by the fact that if the Magpies want to become an elite club, they must become accustomed to going from game to game with minimal mistakes. This has not been achieved this season.

That will undoubtedly be a question for the summer, and will be reflected in the business that the club does in the transfer window. For now, Eddie Howe must concentrate on making sure that Newcastle qualify for Europe again in some form so that those problems can be fully addressed.

Howe said, “I’ve got no problems picking myself up, it’s more the players”, signifying that his most pressing issue will be a psychological one for his squad. Man management will be key, especially given that Newcastle next take on Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby in just a few short days.

With an international break following the derby, it represents the perfect chance to continue their momentum in the Premier League, with two wins in their last two top flight matches, and head into the final stretch of games with a spring still in their step.

Newcastle must be “mentally ready, physically ready for what’s going to be a huge game for us and for the whole city”, Howe stated. He knows how much the derby means to the supporters, especially after the disappointment of the clash between the sides at the Stadium of Light in December.

“We’ve got to play like our lives depend on it”, Howe added about the upcoming clash with Sunderland.

There is no doubt however, that this result against Barcelona will hurt everyone associated with the club. There was a real confidence ahead of kick off, which until moments before half time, looked to be well placed. In the end, that confidence was vanquished and the dream was dead.