Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has not played Aleksandar Mitrovic much this season.
Paul Merson has criticised Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez in The Daily Star.
The former Arsenal star has questioned why Benitez has not been making use of Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic more often.
The Serbia international striker has not started a single Premier League matches for the Magpies so far.
The 23-year-old striker has played just 89 minutes of league football so far this campaign, scoring one goal in the process.
Mitrovic will miss Newcastle’s Premier League game against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon due to a back problem.
Former Arsenal star Merson has criticised Benitez for not making more use of Mitrovic, who has been on the books of Newcastle since the summer of 2015 when Steve McClaren was the Magpies’ head coach.
The striker joined from Belgian giants Anderlecht for a transfer fee reported by BBC Sport to be worth £13 million.
“Rafa gets an easy ride because it’s everybody else’s fault,” Merson wrote in The Daily Star. “Well, I thought he would stop the rot because he’s a good manager.
“But he’s making some strange decisions. Where is Aleksandar Mitrovic? He wasn’t even on the bench against Everton and they need him in the team, in my opinion.
“Dwight Gayle is lively, quick and sharp, and Joselu is the same. But they need someone who’s going to put himself about and do the dirty work. I think he has to play. He gives them something different.
“I don’t know what’s gone on there but Rafa needs to swallow his pride and put him back in the team. Ruthless Okay, maybe he can’t always be trusted but it’s time to take a chance.”
Meanwhile, Newcastle striker Joselu has taken to social networking site Twitter to send the following messages ahead of today’s match against Arsenal.
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