Jamal Lewis

[The Great Mass Debater 1,202]

Granted I've not seen as many of his games as most other fans, but of the games I have seen I would go as far as to say this is the best I've seen him play. Noticeably more attacking than usual, and looking pretty nifty doing it too. Max is normally the more attacking of the two, but not today.

Found myself wondering whether this was a direct result of Cantwell playing instead of Onel. Onel a true wide man, full of tricks, running, cutting in or crossing, leaves Jamal very exposed, so probably feels unable to push forward as much. With Cantwell playing, instead he had a player who would look to play more central in a plymaker role.

Looked to me that Farke had recognised that that might result in a lack of width/penetration on that left side and gave Jamal the licence to get forward.

Looked confident on the ball and solid in defence. As I say, best game I have personally seen him play

[AJ 1,358]

I think both wingbacks had a bit more freedom today as Newcastle did not sit as high up nor cause as many problems out wide as Liverpool did. Both looked far more confident and assured today, and both will continue to improve. The whole team played well today, and given the average age between Lewis, Aaron's, Godfrey and Cantwell we are spoilt really!

Edited August 17, 2019 by AJ

[The Great Mass Debater 1,202]

Annoyed about the last minute goal, as our defence deserved the clean sheet after being like wet tissue paper against Liverpool.

What unnerves me though is Newcastle were so shi te I couldnt tell if we had improved defensively or not.

I dont get the Hanley bashing, but you could say he was too easily turned for their goal.

I dont know if we have resolved the defensive frailties or not. I suppose we'll find out next week

[Surfer 1,547]

Yes it’s quite reasonable to say Hanley was too easily turned there, but Shelby is also a class player, and Hanley couldn’t recover quickly enough. But we had just made a bunch of subs and perhaps the mental focus was broken. 

He may have also been at “fault” on the header their 40 million striker put wide - but that would be taking away from a great cross. 

Lewis also was in a CB position and lost his RM opponent to blast over the bar just before that, so we could have been down 0-2 again and just as aggrieved as we were feeling at Liverpool. 

What is clear is our defense played much better than Newcastle’s did, the space they left us was as criminal as the space we left at Liverpool - or are we under-appreciating PL offences? 

[hepphep 175]

I think Lewis was much active towards forward against Pool already. Last season it felt like Aarons was way ahead as attack threat and now Lewis.

Well noted earlier that it might be due Cantwell vs Hernandez thing, as way Cantwell plays opens more space to wing for Lewis 

[lappinitup 629]

3 hours ago, hepphep said:

I think Lewis was much active towards forward against Pool already.

Quite. 🤪

[king canary 8,754]

Hanley is what he is- a 4th choice central defender at this level. 

Lewis can fly under the radar a touch due to how good Aarons has been but he's developing every week since he got into the team.

[Bill 1,788]

13 hours ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

Annoyed about the last minute goal, as our defence deserved the clean sheet after being like wet tissue paper against Liverpool.

What unnerves me though is Newcastle were so shi te I couldnt tell if we had improved defensively or not.

I dont get the Hanley bashing, but you could say he was too easily turned for their goal.

I dont know if we have resolved the defensive frailties or not. I suppose we'll find out next week

?

[hogesar 10,762]

Lewis has started the season looking more acclimatised to Prem footy than Aaron's.

[Indy 3,471]

14 hours ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

Annoyed about the last minute goal, as our defence deserved the clean sheet after being like wet tissue paper against Liverpool.

What unnerves me though is Newcastle were so shi te I couldnt tell if we had improved defensively or not.

I dont get the Hanley bashing, but you could say he was too easily turned for their goal.

I dont know if we have resolved the defensive frailties or not. I suppose we'll find out next week

The trouble is people say Hanley bashing, it isn’t it’s just noticeable he’s not at the level of Godfrey,  already far better all round, feet, air and anticipation. It’s just unfortunate for players who are different levels, Hanley is a solid championship defender, but their three chances all had a Hanley hand in them.

That said he had a good game, his best for us in well over a year.

Lewis has been brilliant along with Aarons, now they have two players pushing them too, so they need to keep up their level of performance, nice to have quality squad.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Indy

[Well b back 3,603]

14 hours ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

Annoyed about the last minute goal, as our defence deserved the clean sheet after being like wet tissue paper against Liverpool.

What unnerves me though is Newcastle were so shi te I couldnt tell if we had improved defensively or not.

I dont get the Hanley bashing, but you could say he was too easily turned for their goal.

I dont know if we have resolved the defensive frailties or not. I suppose we'll find out next week

? If you don’t get the Hanley bashing why have you just bashed him ?

[Indy_Bones 444]

1 hour ago, Well b back said:

? If you don’t get the Hanley bashing why have you just bashed him ?

Since when did pointing out that you feel a player could have done better in a situation suddenly become 'bashing'???

Edited August 18, 2019 by Indy_Bones
Spellcheck

[USA Canary 7]

Speaking of Lewis, does anyone have an update on the injury he picked up yesterday?

[crispeduk 282]

1 hour ago, USA Canary said:

Speaking of Lewis, does anyone have an update on the injury he picked up yesterday?

Can't recall where saw or heard it but pretty sure Daniel said it was a small knock then likely mostly cramp, coming off as a precaution against something more serious.

[Sussexyellow 55]

Returned to the pitch at the end of the game to acknowledge the crowd and looked to be walking just fine. Hopefully a good sign that he will fit for next Saturday 

[wcorkcanary 4,784]

16 hours ago, hogesar said:

Lewis has started the season looking more acclimatised to Prem footy than Aaron's.

His full international caps will have given him experience of trickier opponents than he faced in the championship. He has looked good since day one for N Ireland.

[Six Pack 105]

I've never at any time thought Aaron's is better then Lewis. I thought of them as equal or if anything Lewis slightly better.

Lewis' performance on Saturday was nothing new to me. He had the responsibility of providing all the pace down the left hand side  (with Hernandez out) so had the shackles off.

With Hanley - just because he's a 4th choice central defender in a premiership team doesn't make him Premiership level - he's basically championship level. How the team performs will dictates his performance - we controlled the ball, the opposition hardly had a look in so he looked pretty efficient. He was done "like a dinner" by Shelvey so was at fault for the goal. But unlike most I thought he did a good job for the Joelinton "miss". The cross in from the right hand side was excellent but Hanley's jump put Joelinton off. With the ball only 2 seconds from the crucial point of contact, the sudden distraction of Handley's head jumping into his vision resulted in the error - he didn't win the ball but distracted him - good work by Handley on that occasion.

It was a shame with Lewis' injury. With Vrancic on we had Newcastle looking down the barrel of 4 or 5 nil. But with Byram and Tettey we lost some sharpness and precision in our passing so a consolation for Newcastle was always on the cards.

 

 

 

[Feedthewolf 5,885]

Jamal was outstanding on Saturday, I agree. He looked like a proper winger with the ball at his feet; loads of trickery and little step-overs, and I don't think he got robbed once. Immense.

And I don't usually go in for the grammatical pedantry on here, but can we please stop putting an apostrophe in Aarons? It's doing my head in. He does not belong to Aaron.

 

[Jim Smith 2,610]

Lewis looks fantastic this season and I think he may even outperform Max (which is not to say I think Max will struggle) and become the more sought after of the two.

If being ultra critical I think he should have come out and closed down that chance they had after about 15 minutes, not quite sure why he didn't close the man down there, but generally I thought he was excellent and his athleticism has become so important to how we play that aside from Pukki he;s probably the one player we can't afford to lose to injury for a protracted spell. 

[Excited Canary 19]

Always felt the attacking side of Lewis' game was a bit lacking but it seems to have come on leaps and bounds recently, particularly his dribbling (his crossing could still improve). I actually think he has the attributes to go further than Max (obvious physical advantage, what an athlete), despite him receiving a lot less of the limelight. Looks at home in the PL.

Edited August 19, 2019 by Excited Canary