As a club, Newcastle United is never far from controversy. Their last game was no different, with owner Mike Ashley offering free jackets from Sports Direct if Newcastle beat West Ham (which they did, 2-1, congrats to the new jacket owners).
However, for a team plagued by inconsistency, are they suddenly on a new Geordie Renaissance? Has Steve McClaren finally got the team performing his way?
This season Newcastle have looked like a side that don’t really know where they stand in the Premier League. For the past few seasons they have been up and down the table, and many fans want the glory days back; the days where managers like Robson and Pardew took them to Europe.
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But after looking dead and buried before December, with only three wins, they have come into January looking a better side.
McClaren has bought in Jonjo Shelvey to boss his midfield and to provide support to Wijnaldum. Wijnaldum looks to be a really great signing for Newcastle, scoring a lot of goals and carrying the team singlehandedly for many periods of this season.
Mitrovic, the striker who bought in to solve the lack of goals at the beginning of the season, ended up getting booked or sent off in his first couple of games. However, more recently he has matured and started to get amongst the goals, as well as starting to be a regular in the first team.
The defence has been performing a lot better, and they have ground out results against some of the tough teams like Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham, as well as only just losing to Arsenal. Does that highlight that this team is on the up?
When you look at the table, Newcastle have pulled themselves out of the bottom three, now only four points off Chelsea. Should results continue to be positive, there is no reason why Newcastle can’t pull themselves up the table and further away from the relegation zone.
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If Newcastle truly want to stay up this season, they need to beat Watford in their next game, as well as get points off West Brom, Everton and Chelsea, which is not going to be easy. They will have to buy wisely, which they have already done with Shelvey, and then get as many points as possible between now and the end of the season.
If they don’t then the drop will be staring them in the face and the task of safety will be a lot harder for Newcastle. It is becoming one of the most intense relegation battles we have had in seasons, with all teams from 10th onwards at risk of slipping up and dropping down to the Championship.
Whether Newcastle will be there come May is another matter. They have proved that they can get results, its whether they can be consistent and steer themselves away from trouble.
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