Leicester vs Newcastle match report: Magpies embarrassed once again as Foxes edge towards Premier League safety
Leicester 3 Newcastle 0: Two goals from Leonardo Ulloa and a third from captain Wes Morgan deals Newcastle their eighth straight defeat
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Your support makes all the difference.Focus shifted at the KP Stadium from imaginary ostriches to an all-too-real lame duck. Newcastle, under John Carver, are limping in ever-decreasing circles. They deserve to be relegated, if only for the cardinal sins of crass complacency and unbounded cynicism.
Leicester City will not complain, since their hopes of avoiding relegation from the Premier League improved immeasurably when they inflicted Newcastle’s eighth successive defeat with revealing ease, but the vocabulary of betrayal has become over-familiar.
The usual descriptions – disgrace, scandal, joke, circus, embarrassment – remain relevant, but have lost their power to shock. It took Carver’s extraordinary attack on his players’ lack of moral courage and professional pride to place the extent of the betrayal into perspective.
The interim manager succumbed to justifiable anger, and read more into Mike Williamson’s dismissal than was entirely wise. How he will be able to summon even a modicum of defiance in response to such a blanket condemnation of character is difficult to understand.
This is a team who no longer appear to care about rational criticism, since they have been excused their indolence by the man who pays their extravagant wages. Owner Mike Ashley reads a balance sheet rather better than he reads people.
By allowing a culture of convenient mediocrity to be established, on the rash assumption that survival was secured, he has legitimised a collection of multimillionaire players who have no discernible appetite for the fight into which they have sleepwalked since Alan Pardew escaped on New Year’s Day. Leicester, who once trailed the visitors by 17 points, are a solitary point behind. They have momentum where Newcastle are mired in malevolence and mistrust. The latter’s plight strikes at the heart of what professional sport represents.
When there is no aspiration there is rarely any perspiration. When there is no sweat there is no substance. When there is no basis of belief there is no point.
Prosaic truths were articulated in the corner housing 1,915 away fans, where a long banner proclaimed: “We don’t demand a team that wins. We demand a team that tries”. The supporters soon segued into anti-Ashley chants of “You fat cockney bastard, get out of our club”.
These were modified and amplified by the home fans, and the sense of solidarity was reinforced when Nigel Pearson approached Carver on the touchline as the game ebbed away. “I felt for John,” he explained. “I have a lot of respect for him, and what he stands for.
“It is not for me to make judgements, but it clearly remains hard for someone of his core values. I know he is hurting because he cares so much for the football club.”
Pearson, inevitably, was asked to dwell on the lessons of an odd week. “If I make an apology there is no smoke and mirrors. What I am is what I am, and I have to live with that. I don’t want to change. There are a lot of misconceptions, possibly driven by my personality.”
His team, playing for him with revealing intensity, required only 30 seconds to lead. Leo Ulloa simply showed greater desire than Moussa Sissoko, who allowed him a close- range header from a Marc Albrighton corner, conceded after Ryan Taylor was caught in possession from the kick-off.
Carver threw his coat to the bench in a mime of fruitless commitment, as if he sensed what was coming. Newcastle’s defence had the pace and solidity of a pensioner on a Zimmer frame. Leicester’s attack had speed, width and urgency. The outcome was not difficult to predict.
Wes Morgan, one of three unmarked players at a curling free- kick by Albrighton, ended the game as a contest in the 16th minute when he applied the finishing touch in the six-yard box. Newcastle meekly accepted Mike Read’s decision to award a 47th-minute penalty, expertly converted by Ulloa, when Marcin Wasilewski was pushed by Emmanuel Rivière while making a near-post run at a corner.
Leicester have winnable home games against Southampton and QPR to come. Their other outstanding fixture, at Sunderland, is far from daunting. Newcastle, set a four-point target by Carver on the run-in, have long since gone beyond conventional judgement. West Bromwich Albion will probably be too obdurate for them and QPR host them in the penultimate match of the season. Their Premier League future may ultimately depend on West Ham, who visit St James’ Park on 24 May.
The fans, whose credo of loyalty from cradle to grave has been stretched to breaking point, deserved the final say. They rejected the applause of Newcastle players at the end of another surrender and called them “cowards”. The slur is grievous, but entirely deserved.
Line-ups:
Leicester: (3-4-2-1) Schmeichel; Wasilewski (De Laet, 67), Huth, Morgan; Albrighton, James, Cambiasso (Hammond, 73), Schlupp; Vardy, Mahrez; Ulloa (Kramaric, 78).
Newcastle: (4-4-2) Krul; Janmaat, Williamson, Coloccini, Dummett; Colback, Taylor (De Jong, 58),Sissoko, Jonas; Perez (Armstrong, 73), Rivière (Anita, 63).
Referee: Mike Dean
Man of the match: Vardy (Leicester)
Match rating: 7/10
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