Newcastle United have endured a disappointing start to the season as they currently sit in the bottom three of the Premier League.
The Magpies are winless in their opening eight matches and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle by Burnley at St. James’ Park.
Steve Bruce’s side have struggled in both boxes throughout the campaign, with a heavy reliance on both Allan Saint Maximin and Callum Wilson to come up with something special in attack and a frequent tendency to gift the opposition chances at the other end.
But given Bruce’s decision to insist on a pragmatic style of play, the fact Newcastle aren’t one of the best sides in the league at restricting the opposition’s creativity suggests there are issues with his tactics.
So far this season, Newcastle have conceded the ninth most amount of big chances in the league with a total of 6.3 per match.
Although it’s not overly close to being one of the highest in the division, they are behind the likes of Leeds United, Leicester City, Norwich City, Arsenal and Southampton, who all operate with a considerably more attacking style of play.
With often seven defensive minded players on the pitch at the same time, Bruce’s side should be much lower than they are on that list, especially given their lack of creativity at the other end.
The Magpies have created the sixth least amount of big chances in the division with 4.7 per 90 minutes.
With their main source of goals Wilson having missed 50 per cent of the side’s matches through injury this season, it is imperative Newcastle begin to create more chances due to their lack of options in that area of the pitch beyond their number nine.
As aforementioned, Bruce’s squad has any extremely heavy reliance on Saint Maximin to come up with a moment of magic in the final third and if he isn’t on song then Newcastle’s attacking threat is almost redundant.
If the club’s new owners decide to give Bruce more time to turn the club’s form round on the pitch, then he must start to find a better balance between defence and attack, otherwise winning matches is going to continue to be a struggle.
