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Newcastle United’s defeat to Brighton last time out saw them slump to the very bottom of the Premier League table with nine matches played. The Magpies are still without a win to their name and have amassed a paltry two points at this stage.
Whilst the north east club could point to a cruel run of fixtures in the opening exchanges of the season, failure to beat any of Brighton, Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Cardiff City has seen them run out of excuses for their dreadful start.
The problems that Rafa Benitez’s squad face generally come in the attacking department. Defensively, Newcastle remain relatively solid. However, just the six goals scored at this stage is far from good enough.
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Benitez did seek to bolster his attack in the summer. Yoshinori Muto came in from Mainz, whilst Salomon Rondon was the subject of a loan swap deal with West Brom which saw Dwight Gayle head in the direction of the Hawthorns. Meanwhile, Aleksandar Mitrovic was sold to newly-promoted Fulham for an initial fee of £22 million.
So far this season, Mitrovic has bagged five Premier League goals, whilst on-loan Gayle has struck eight times in the Championship already. On Tyneside, all of Newcastle’s strikers – Rondon, Muto, Joselu and Ayoze Perez – have produced just three league goals between them (with Rondon and Perez yet to get off the mark).
With the Magpies in desperate need of goals, Benitez ought to back Joselu to maintain his decent start in this weekend’s crunch clash with Southampton. However, the wisest course of action would have been keeping Gayle and Mitrovic at the club in the first place. The failure to do so could see Newcastle slip into the second tier once again come the end of the season.
What do you think, Newcastle fans – who should lead the line against the Saints?
