There is a yellow wall in Bournemouth, but it is made of sandstone and lies beneath the row of pines that edge the cricket pitch just over the road from the car park. Having played in front of the Yellow Wall at Dortmund on Tuesday – capacity of stand: 25,000 – a process of recalibration is required to play at the Vitality – capacity of stadium: 11,379. That, as much as fatigue, is the problem presented by the Champions League.
And it is becoming a problem: Newcastle have won only one of four games after European ties this season. That was, admittedly, the 8-0 win at Sheffield United, but at West Ham and at Wolves they were as flat as they were here. Seven points have been dropped in those three games so they now lie behind Manchester United, despite their perpetual crisis.
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