Newcastle United have been on a worrying run of form of late.
Newcastle were left disappointed as they lost 1-0 to relegation threatened Blackburn Rovers yesterday, and Magpies boss Rafa Benitez fielded questions asking him why he chose to omit Aleksandar Mitrovic from his match-day squad, as quoted by the Shields Gazette.
Despite dominating the game from a possession aspect, Newcastle seemed to be toothless when attacking, and having someone with the aerial ability of the Serbian to call upon could arguably have made a big difference.
Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez
Instead, the Spaniard opted for Daryl Murphy on the bench, and introduced him to the game after 87 minutes.
And Benitez explained his decision, as quoted by the Shields Gazette:
“The way Murphy was working in the training sessions…it was not a big difference between one or the other on the bench. He did really well. He was winning the ball and bringing players into the game. I think he was fine. “It was a difficult situation because they were deep. He did what he had to do. The only thing we didn’t do was score. We had a lot of chances, especially first half.”
Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez
The Tynesiders recent run of form has come as a surprise to many, after pundits and fans alike and predicted them to run away wth the Championship title.
They will have to get back to winning ways as soon as possible, with confidence levels quite clearly low amongst the Newcastle squad at present.
Next up for the Magpies is an FA Cup tie with Birmingham City, before they face Brentford and Rotherham United respectively in the Championship.
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