Newcastle United have been linked with players like Kalvin Phillips and Yankuba Minteh in recent weeks.
Phillips is expected to leave Manchester City owing to the lack of regular playing time and Minteh is on loan from Newcastle to Feyenoord.
Newcastle need to bring in a quality defensive midfielder after the suspension of Sandro Tonali and Phillips could be that option for them. As for Minteh, the talented young winger will add pace and flair to the side. He will also add some much-needed unpredictability to their attack.
UEFA rules mean that the two players will not be cup-tied during the second half of the season either. They have already played in the Champions League this season with another club but a change of rule in 2018 will allow them to compete in the tournament with Newcastle as well.
The change of rule reads: “The UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League knockout hopefuls are allowed to register a maximum of three new eligible players during the winter. Since 2018/19, it no longer matters whether those players have already played in the competition for another club, even for another club still in the competition.”
Defence and midfield isn’t a problem, putting the ball into the net is.
Too often 1-0 is readily accepted and park the bus is involved, doesn’t work often enough.
Close the opposition down early on as we did on Wednesday but we couldn’t manage it during the 2nd half. Tiredness was evident and with only 1 goal to show for it the obvious happened.