Following a superb spell in the second half of last campaign, many had touted Newcastle United as the dark horse in the Premier League this season. But, the Magpies had a horrid summer and are back to square one following an extremely poor start to the season.
That being said, both their wins this season have come in their last two matches thus hinting at another possible turnaround.
Let us take a brief look at their season thus far.
Standout performers
It hasn’t exactly been a fruitful season for the Magpies so very few players have managed to live up to the billing. Kenedy is one such player, who has shown signs of promise. The Brazilian has been useful, at times, notably making the highest number of interceptions in the team. But, he certainly needs to become much more consistent.
DeAndre Yedlin has also impressed with his speed and athleticism. His ability to burst forward is quite remarkable and with Newcastle slowly turning it around, it will be interesting to see how the American manages to continue his form this campaign.
Club captain Jamaal Lascelles has been solid as ever but has terribly lacked adequate support from his defensive teammates.
Underwhelming performers
Joselu and Yoshinori Muto have been very disappointing with both the former Bundesliga forwards failing to provide any sort of spark in attack despite carrying an impressive reputation.
New signing Muto has featured in ten matches so far, six of which he came off the bench. But, the Japanese has scored just once this season while Joselu has also scored only two goals in nine appearances. As a result, Newcastle have been over-reliant on the services of Salomon Rondon and coach Rafa Benitez will surely be ruing the decision to sell Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The manager and tactics
Newcastle clearly aren’t one of the most innovative attacking sides in the league as they often rely on the qualities of gifted attackers like Matt Ritchie and Ayoze Perez to create a spark in the final third. And when both of them fail to deliver anything of note, the Magpies resort to flat long-passes or desperate crosses and in this regard, they need Rondon to be in terrific form to be able to harbour any hopes of getting a positive result.
Benitez has employed his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation this season, where Jonjo Shelvey has mostly featured alongside Mohamed Diame in the midfield pivot. The shape changes to a 4-5-1 without possession with the midfield block often attempting to hurry the opposition player in possession with some intense pressing.
Stat courtesy: Whoscored
