Rafa Benítez’s Newcastle United have enjoyed a solid if unspectacular start to their Sky Bet Championship campaign, sitting third in the table as we head into the October international break.
The Magpies remain on a high after back-to-back wins, with a sensational 4-3 win over Norwich City being followed up by a hard-fought 1-0 triumph at Rotherham United.
I don’t know about you, but I’m still feeling a tad giddy after that result over the Canaries!
Snatching those two goals in stoppage time to turn a damaging defeat into a huge victory had to cap off one of the best nights of football St. James’ Park has experienced in a long time, even if it came in England’s second tier.
The comeback throughout the second half of the game taught us a number of things about this Newcastle side. But for me, what stood out is that we could be absolutely devastating if we get more minutes out of the forward combination of Dwight Gayle and Aleksandar Mitrović.
We know that Benítez isn’t a big fan of the 4-4-2 system, and the only times we’ve seen Mitrović and Gayle paired together have been against Norwich and, before that, the defeat to Wolves.
In both occassions the two were only both on the pitch in attempt to overturn a deficit. Against Wolves it failed to produce, but against Norwich it worked wonders.
Both Gayle and Mitrović have their critics. Both have missed chances this season, and Mitrović in particular as often found guilty of doing the same last year as well. But I believe the two compliment each other incredibly well, and if given enough gametime to play together (not just as a last-ditch attempt to get back into a match) they could be devastating.
Gayle has had a good start to his Newcastle career with seven goals to his name so far, including a hat-trick in that euphoric game against Norwich.
True, Gayle could (and should) have hit five or six by the time he rolled in the 96th minute winner, but he has plenty of attributes to be admired in a striker.
He was criticsed for his one-on-one miss at Aston Villa when Newcastle were leading 1-0, but I’d say it was a more difficult chance than it looked.
His positioning skills are very impressive. Gayle has the predatory, “right-place-at-the-right-time” instincts you crave your strikers to have. He has pace to burn and is a very, very hard worker, what’s not to love about that?
When Mitrović came on alongisde Gayle against Norwich, the game was turned on its head. Norwich had been thoroughly outplayed and should never have been in the match let alone possessing a 3-1 lead that night. The Serbian international entered the game at 3-2 and the chances immediately flowed.
That’s what Mitrović does. He makes things happen. With him being in the box, it gives oppositon defenders much, much more work to do, allowing players like Gayle to escape attention and get into more goal-scoring positions.
Mitrović isn’t a quality finisher, we’ve all seen evidence of that, but he makes the players around him play so much better with his strength, hold-up play, and ability to act as a focal point.
He gives Newcastle a purpose in times where they lack ideas. It’s no coincedence that Newcastle bagged six in Mitrović’s only league start so far this season.
After the defeat to Wolves a lot of Newcastle fans were quick to turn on Mitrović. It’s true that there is a lot of hype around the 22-year-old when a lot of it could be considered unjustified judging by his scoring record. But in my eyes there is a lot more to a striker than his ability to finish.
A lot more fans are following the growing analytics movement in football and pay a lot of interest in the ‘expected goals’ model.
Although it’s true that if you analyse Mitrović’s stats, he scores less goals than he should. But the chances that Newcastle create with him on the pitch are always far higher than without. The team is more likely to score goals, either through him or his teammates.
For context, Robert Lewandowski is in a similar position. He’s not a great finisher and actually misses a lot of good chances, yet is one of the world’s best strikers.
Now I’m not saying that Mitrović is on the same level as Lewandowski, but he shouldn’t be given so much stick for his finishing ability when he offers as much as he does elsewhere.
I do think a combination of Mitrović and Gayle this season could, and will, produce the goods for Newcastle. But it may be one we rarely see given Rafa’s preference of the 4-2-3-1 system.
Of course I don’t know anything in comparison to Benítez, and I would never claim to, but I do think it’s an idea that should be considered a bit more.
Let us know in the poll below if you agree!
