Sky Bet Championship 2016/17: 5 things we’ve learnt - Matchday 18
You won’t believe the going’s on in this week’s Championship round-up. Yet another manager departs, Rafa Benitez’s Geordie boys are beaten and Brighton take full advantage. Plus, two former Premier League teams keep up their good form on their push for promotion.
Well, it finally happened, Newcastle United have been beaten for only the 4th time this season. We’ll take a look at how that happened and by which team, plus which manager has left their post after lasting just 5 weeks?
All this and more to come from your Sky-Bet Championship round-up, Week 18.
#1 Geordies are beatable!
Just when you thought that Newcastle United were looking unbeatable, up came a home fixture against Blackburn Rovers. A fixture that on paper at least suggested that the Geordies would extend their winning run to 10 games. After all, Blackburn, a team battling against relegation, had shown few reasons to expect that this would be anything other than a Newcastle home win.
However, it was Owen Coyle’s men that emerged victorious on a day that saw Newcastle coach Benitez make 6 changes to the team. Charlie Mulgrew volleying home after 75 minutes of a close fought contest to send the disbelieving Rovers fans into raptures.
It was a frustrating game for the Magpies. A match that could have seen them set a club record with 10 straight league wins, instead went to the more industrious away team. Benitez blamed a poor attitude and in part at least, his changes to the side:
"I didn't like our reaction when we were losing, and we have to do better. I didn't like the chances we didn't take, and I didn't like my decisions.
"I knew that when you lose a game and you change your players, everyone blames the manager. I knew that, but in the same time we have to show more character and more personality."
Their next league game is away at Nottingham Forest. Yet another game they should win. Can they bounce back quickly and prove that this was just a blip on the way to the Premier League?