Former Newcastle United striker Michael Owen believes that offloading the club’s attacking players will come back to haunt Rafa Benitez.
The Magpies sent forward Dwight Gayle on loan to West Bromwich Albion for the season, while Aleksandar Mitrovic was sold to league rivals Fulham in the summer transfer window.
Owen says that these are decisions that will come back to bite the Spaniard, especially after Newcastle’s lack of goals so far this season – but he added that everyone must trust Benitez to guide them to a good position in the Premier League after he did so last year.
#NUFC have made their worst start to a season since 1898 ?
Could Rafa Benítez's job be at risk? @themichaelowen says they must "trust" in the manager ? pic.twitter.com/r3BBFjaL2S
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) October 26, 2018
“They’re not playing well, they’re not scoring goals, they’ve lost a couple of players who did score goals,” Owen told BBC 5 Live Sport.
“That’s probably biting Rafa in the backside a little bit. But you’d have to say that, they had a really poor start to the season last season and they gradually got themselves out of it.
“They got to a respectable position, so you have to trust Rafa to do that again.”
OPINION
Owen is absolutely right – the fact that Benitez did offload two of his strikers will come back to haunt him if Newcastle do not end up doing well this season. They have managed to get a bagful of goals between them already and the fans are no doubt seething that they have been able to achieve this while Newcastle struggle. It did not make sense for the club to get rid of both strikers this summer, and it is obvious that this is the reason behind United’s demise. Salomon Rondon and Yoshinori Muto have not stepped up to the plate after the two forwards left, so Newcastle have been left with next to no strike force. Once Benitez can get the team scoring once again, then the wins will come more regularly – waiting for the first one is no doubt rather frustrating. However, as Owen pointed out, if anybody can guide Newcastle to a good position this season, it is Benitez – and the supporters must place their trust in him.