Dan Walker has defended a claim from Mark Lawrenson that Newcastle United fans are never happy and want UEFA Champions League football.
The BBC presenter tweeted his defence of ‘Lawro’ following the comments made by the former Liverpool and Republic of Ireland player, saying:
“He knows that game inside out and watches more football than most people I know.”
Newcastle were poor versus Southampton
Indeed, Lawrenson gave his thoughts after analysing the St. James’ Park faithful’s very poor display against the Saints in the Premier League on Friday night.
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Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team not only ended up winning the game rather comfortably 2-0 thanks to goals from Che Adams and Stuart Armstrong but dominated large parts of the match in general.
SFC dominated possession of the ball, recording 60% in total, and also had more shots on goal, passes, duels won, tackles and interceptions than Steve Bruce’s side on the night (Sofascore).
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Indeed, it was certainly a performance that would not have gone down well with several members of the Toon Army.
Was Lawrenson right in saying Newcastle fans want CL football?
It was perhaps a tongue-in-cheek statement from Lawrenson to claim that supporters of the Tyneside club want Champions League football, given that they have not qualified for the elite European competition since the 2002/03 season (Transfermarkt).
Nonetheless, it was still a quite ridiculous and unnecessary dig that fans demand too much from their team when in reality they have not had much to shout about since they were in the Champions League, and simply want to see winning, entertaining football above all else.
They have been relegated twice from the top flight since that campaign in Europe, and have finished no higher than 5th place in the league table (Transfermarkt).
They have also not managed to reach the final of the FA or Carabao Cup over the last two decades, so perhaps Magpies fans are right to be asking for more from their side.
In other news, find out which NUFC star was slammed by fans for his display versus Southampton here!
