Toon in a mess if they can’t do better than Joelinton

STEVE BRUCE insists there were no better strikers available in January than those he has already — but that does not say much for the players he checked on. It is a pretty low bar, with three of the four on the books injured, not to mention scoreless all season. The other one, £40million record signing Joelinton, has just one League goal and that came in August. The Brazilian is looking like a very bad buy rather than one who just needs time to adapt. Questions need to be asked as to why chief scout Steve Nickson recommended the club invest a fee of almost double anything they had previously paid. On that judgment, perhaps it is best they did not throw money at the situation, for how can they be trusted to get it right? Joelinton has not netted in 21 League matches and, were it not for the fact he has close to zero competition for his place, would have been dropped a long time ago. Yet, somewhat mystifyingly, January passed without addition. ‘There was nobody out there who could have improved us,’ said Bruce. ‘Some will say there will have been someone. Let me tell you, it is very, very hard. I would rather keep my powder dry and wait until we get the players we want.’ That is all well and good, but Newcastle are not safe and should have been soundly beaten by Norwich on Saturday. Were it not for a freaky combination of defenders scoring goals — 12 of 24 in the League — and keeper Martin Dubravka being man-of-the-match most weeks, Newcastle would be in the relegation zone. They signed an injured Andy Carroll when Dwight Gayle was already sidelined and the pair have started just six times between them. Bruce was asked if the Carroll gamble had failed. ‘Look, you can’t just blame it on Andy, his ankle (longstanding issue) is all right, but he has a hip problem. He should be fine for our next game at Arsenal.’ They need him to be fine, because those currently tasked with scoring goals are anything but.