Newcastle have been woeful defensively this season.
Newcastle United’s struggles continued as they were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal on Saturday, with Rafael Benitez’s side having now lost eight of their last nine games.
Currently languishing in 18th place in the Premier League, Newcastle have lacked conviction all over the pitch and it is clear that many members of the squad aren’t of the required quality to thrive in the top flight.
One of the biggest issues facing Benitez at present is his full-backs, with DeAndre Yedlin and Javier Manquillo, who started against Arsenal, both seriously out of sorts.
Yedlin is firmly established as Newcastle’s first-choice right-back, while, with Paul Dummett only just back from injury, Manquillo was required to fill in at left-back once again for the trip to face Arsenal.
Both players struggled as they were frequently caught out of position and were guilty of pushing too high up the pitch, leaving large spaces for Arsenal’s players to run into.
A lack of defensive resilience has been a major issue for Newcastle this season and unless Benitez is able to bring in a pair of top quality full-backs in the January transfer window, the problem looks like it will persist.
Deploying Dummett at left-back may well improve matters but it is still questionable whether his return alone will make Newcastle perform better defensively.
Yedlin certainly has his qualities in an attacking sense but all too often is a liability defensively and isn’t the type of player that will help the club to avoid relegation.
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