'Shocking' - Bruno Guimaraes reveals his true feelings on Newcastle United's defeat to Marseille
Newcastle United surrendered a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 away to Marseille in the Champions League.
Bruno Guimaraes has reflected on Newcastle United’s 2-1 defeat to Marseille in the Champions League.
The Brazilian captained the Magpies at the Stade Velodrome and the evening got off to a perfect start after Harvey Barnes opened the scoring just six minutes in.
_pages-to-jpg-0001.jpeg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65)
But for a third successive away match, United failed to hold onto their lead, conceding twice to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang within five minutes of the second half getting underway.
Eddie Howe’s side were unable to respond as their three-match winning run in the competition came to an end.
Bruno Guimaraes blasts ‘sloppy’ Newcastle United
When speaking to the media after the game, Guimaraes highlighted his side’s start to the second half as costly.
Guimaraes said: “Five to 10 minutes, we started the game so well, strong, kept the ball, aggressive, positive. In the second half, we just were not in the pitch for 5-10 minutes and conceded two goals. Shocking, sloppy with and without the ball. Very sad for today.
“I think we were in a great position after the first half, playing well but we have to learn, we have to learn with games like that, we are still in a great position. But games like today, it's tough to accept the defeat.
“No, I think we cannot explain,” Guimaras added. “Sloppy, I don't know what happened. We spoke in the changing room to start the second half like we did in the first half, but this did not happen. And it cost us the game. We have to learn, We know the amount of games we have so, yes, sad day, sad day. I'm very disappointed, but we have to keep going.
“Today, I don't think it was that bad, to be honest. I think in the first half, we had the chance to make it 2-0. And the second half, 5-,10 minutes, cost us the game. I think it was too slow, I don't know what happened. We cannot accept this. We have to play better, especially when we're winning.”
Bruno Guimaraes responds to Nick Pope mistake v Marseille
Marseille’s equaliser came less than a minute after the break when goalkeeper Nick Pope came charging off his line, which allowed Aubameyang to shoot into an empty net from a tight angle. Like head coach Howe, Guimaraes refused to point the finger at Pope.
Guimaraes replied: “We know that Popey has already saved us many, many times. This happened to me, it happened to him, it already happened to Dan Burn, so, we have to keep going. We cannot blame it on one player.
“I think the whole team was sleeping in the second half. And it's not about one player, it's about the whole team. We cannot concede the goals the way we did today.”
What Eddie Howe said on Newcastle United’s defeat to Marseille
Providing his verdict on the defeat, Howe said: “That was particularly painful because we worked ourselves into a strong position and played really well in the first half. It was about 10 minutes at the start of the second half. It cost us the game.
“They scored so soon after half-time and a poor goal from our perspective. That's rocked us and we haven't responded well.”