Chris Waddle on Newcastle transfers:
‘Newcastle get in some good areas when they get forward but, even with Rondon on the pitch, they seem to be short of ideas at the moment. It is almost as if they just put the ball in the box towards him and hope.
But what they are lacking up front is not down to Benitez’s coaching or his tactics – you know they are short because his hands have been tied in the transfer market.
To put that right, I think he needs two attacking players in January – a goalscorer and a creative player too, someone who can beat someone and see something in the final third.
If Newcastle can add those two players to what they have already got, I think they will finish well up the league.
It would not matter if they are loan deals until the end of the season like Rondon, but they have to be a priority for whoever is running the club.
Without those additions then, for all their organisation, shape and effort, it is going to be a long and hard season if they do not have the ability to create good chances and put the ball in the net.
I still think Benitez would keep them up, but it will be touch and go.’
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