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‘He’s different class’… Pundit says 24-year-old Newcastle player he loves was ‘awful’ against Arsenal
Don Hutchison has issued a brutal verdict on the performance of Sven Botman in Newcastle United’s defeat to Arsenal on Saturday.
The Magpies were taken apart by the Gunners at the Emirates. Eddie Howe’s men could not get out of their own half in the opening stages of the contest. And it appeared to be a matter of time before Loris Karius was picking the ball out of the back of his net.
Unfortunately for Newcastle, it was Sven Botman who beat him to put Arsenal in front. The Dutchman just about scored an own goal as the visitors struggled to deal with a corner.
Sven Botman awful as Newcastle are thrashed by Arsenal
And that just about summed up the 24-year-old’s evening. He was one of those to switch off as Arsenal doubled the lead. And he made a further error before the Gunners bagged a third.
Don Hutchison was told on that no Premier League side has now conceded more goals since December than Newcastle. And he admitted that he had no defence for the two centre-backs after their performances.
“Incredible. And when you look at Newcastle’s strong point last season, it was clean sheets. I’ve been banging the drum for Sven Botman for a long time, thinking he’s different class. And he is. He was awful today. Fabian Schar the same,” he said.
Magpies have major problems to resolve
In fairness to Eddie Howe, the only three sides to have beaten Newcastle in 2024 have been Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal. So their results have not been dreadful, by any means.
However, the Magpies have kept one clean sheet in the top-flight over the last two months. And that is 12 goals conceded in four games in February.
The worry will be that Newcastle may be throwing away a lot of the progress they made last season. They did remarkably well to qualify for the Champions League. But there is almost certainly going to be no repeat of that achievement this time around.