Newcastle head into their clash with Tottenham this weekend with 0 points on the board in the Premier League.
Steve Bruce’s side lost 1-0 to Arsenal in their first match, before they were thrashed 3-1 by newly-promoted Norwich last weekend.
With a daunting trip to London to face Spurs coming up, what could Bruce do to improve his side’s chances?
A change in personnel could be wise, with Miguel Almiron being one player who has come in for criticism this season.
The attacking midfielder, signed for a club-record fee in January, has failed to produce so far this season and struggled against Norwich last Saturday.
Since his move from Atlanta, Almiron has failed to provide a single goal or assist in his 21 Premier League appearances. Compare that to Norwich’s Todd Cantwell, an academy product, who picked up two assists against Newcastle, and you can see why fans are frustrated with his output in black and white.
In his two Premier League appearances this season, Almiron has managed just one key pass and a pass accuracy of only 74%. Add this to being dispossessed twice and averaging over three bad controls per-match (WhoScored) and it becomes clear that there is an issue with his performances.
With Allan Saint-Maximin potentially returning from injury, Bruce could call upon the winger to replace Almiron and look to make more of an impact going forward – linking up with Joelinton to create chances and cause teams problems with his runs in behind.
Almiron was often rendered useless by Newcastle going forward against Norwich, due to the nature of their attacks. Matt Ritchie was constantly looking to hit crosses into the box from deep to find Joelinton, leaving Almiron near the half-way line doing nothing of note. Either Newcastle need to adapt their tactics to suit Almiron’s strengths, or the midfielder needs to learn to pick up better positions in and around the box to pounce if crosses drop down to him.
