Mitro

What that man says - you build a team around the players you have got. Rafa should have figured out that he can play someone like Gayle up on his own but Mitrovic is not the same type of player. Pity when he had a chance to use Mitrovic as part of a front two, when Gayle was injured, he didn't use it. This would have given him two different playing styles he could use when the lone striker option isn't working.
We should be encouraging the likes of Mitrovic - hopefully if we can get ourselves in an even stronger promotion position Rafa can start to experiment a bit more because defenders/midfielder are a lot smarter in the Premier League and I suspect they will very quickly figure out a way to cut the supply down to Gayle. A more physical centre forward gives us that other option and Murphy certainly will not be one for the future.

 

I'm hoping our next home game will finally see Rafa wake up to the possibilities at home. Lets be honest, he has nailed the away form and tactics better than any manager I have seen in my time watching Newcastle. We are so well drilled. The problem is at home and he needs to get more bodies forward. Teams just sit in. The two things you MUST do to counter this is get pace in the team wide, and get bodies into the box. We do neither. I don't even mind if he decides to take Mitro out away to keep his counter tactics in place. We just have to sort out this home issue, he's had long enough now. Its madness to continually just keep doing the same thing over and over. There is a quote about it...