I feel we'd have to excuse that this is their first time in 20 years of playing in the champions league and coupled with the fact they were amongst the first teams to play the opener, I think the pressure was much. For me, they were more concerned about defensive playing than scoring because the chances they managed to create in the second half could have gotten them somewhere.
Yesterday game was a boring one to watch, with most of the domination coming from AC Milan but there's this player- Raphael Leao- that irked me with his lack of seriousness. Ac Milan would have taken advantage of the situation and netted at least three goals but that guy just seemed to take things like a joke and wasted most of his chances.
I'd give credit to Eddie Howe. It's not easy trying to keep the team together and we know that their performance in the Premier League have not been impressive but I feel they have picked up. Sacking him will not be in the cards cause of the tremendous change he has brought the team. I expect to see a better and confident Newcastle in their return leg.
I also think the long absence from the competition played a role. I think there approach was to no concede a goal or something because Ac Milan had 26 efforts on goal but found Nick Pope in inspired form, especially during a first half in which he made seven saves.
Newcastle resisted Milan's pressure after the break to protect a point on their return to the competition after 20 years away. Somehow i think Newcastle were lucky to have gotten a point yesterday. Because this Newcastle team has not been playing at the level they were, in Premier league season 2022-23.
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Newcastle's poor performance is understandable, given that they had a slow start in the Premier league this season and also this was their first time in the Champions League after some decades, and i expected Milan to take advantage of that but suprisenly Eddie Howe and his boys managed to hold them to a draw full time.
If you noticed they looked very confused yesterday and didn't cause much treat to their opponent having just six shots with only one one target, Acmilan where really the favorites to win the match but they refused to convert their chances to a goal winning this match would had meant a lot to their team because it would serve as a conciliation for the terrible defeat they had last week against Inter and also give them a boost, but thank goodness they didn't lose as well, however they played very brilliantly and deserved to win.