The Newcastle manager has escaped criticism despite his side’s disappointing results.
Despite showing some encouraging signs earlier in the season, Newcastle United have struggled of late, with a run of six Premier League games without a victory leaving them languishing in 15th place in the table.
With games to come against Arsenal and Manchester City before the end of the month, it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that Rafael Benitez’s side could soon fall into the relegation zone.
Benitez remains popular with many Newcastle supporters, with the travelling fans chanting his name during the defeat to Chelsea at the weekend.
However, while he did much good work in getting Newcastle promoted back to the Premier League at the first attempt, the Spaniard should be subjected to more criticism than he has received for his team’s performances this season.
Benitez has been unable to settle upon his preferred midfield pairing, which has led to much uncertainty throughout the team, while with Jamaal Lascelles unavailable due to injury, Newcastle’s defence has fallen apart of late and the manager has yet to find a solution to that problem.
Newcastle have also lacked conviction going forwards, despite Dwight Gayle stepping up in recent games. There has been a lack of goals from wide areas, with Jacob Murphy and Matt Ritchie doing little to warrant their selections in the team.
Benitez switched to a three-man defence against Chelsea as he looked to make Newcastle more resilient at the back but the same problems persisted and it is clear that the club need to spend significantly in the transfer window.
Meanwhile, Benitez has to get more out of the players that he has at his disposal and get Newcastle performing cohesively as a unit again.
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