A STRIKER LIGHT AND LOST WITHOUT MARTIN
TOON MISSING GOAL THREAT
NEWCASTLE United ended their away campaign in drab fashion on the south coast with a stalemate against the Seagulls.
Martin Dubravka kept his side in the game with some excellent saves but Andy Carroll blew a chance to win it at the death.
However, after the game Steve Bruce tried to look on the positive side after a point banked and clean sheet.
The reality is Newcastle have to do much better against sides below them and United have been held twice by Brighton this term.
Newcastle DEFINITELY need another striker this summer
I asked Steve Bruce in the postgame press conference whether he’d be looking for a new centre-forward this summer. He admitted that a new striker was in his thoughts but United need four or five players overall.
With Joelinton clearly not a goalscorer and in need of better quality around him, Bruce will have to look again for more of a threat in the final third.
Yoshinori Muto hasn’t been handed a chance this season while Andy Carroll is not going to be a 90-minute man.
Carroll is definitely an option to turn to from the bench but is not the future at 31.
Dwight Gayle is worth holding on to and will get goals with service but fans need a boost this summer.
Having paid £40million for Joelinton, Mike Ashley will have to go again for a striker if he’s still around.
If they don’t turn draws like this into wins they will never move up the table.
Where would the Magpies be without Martin Dubravka?
That was Dubravka’s 11th clean sheet of the season and his 26th in all for the Magpies. Newcastle don’t have a 20-goal-a-year man like the old days of Alan Shearer or Les Ferdinand. So they are depending on Dubravka to grind points out with displays like this. United paid just £4m for Dubravka (left) a couple of years ago.
He is easily one of the best keepers in Europe.
United will finish no higher than 13th
The Magpies were flirting with the top 10 a couple of weeks ago but have since hit poor form.
Failure to beat Brighton means they can now finish no higher than 13th.
And their hopes of beating last season’s 45-point mark are now in the balance.
To do that they’d need a win over the champions and, if they give chances away like they did at Brighton and miss sitters like they have in recent weeks, there is only one winner on Sunday.
To finish 13th is no disaster but, by the same token, Newcastle are wide open to critics who suggest the club is going nowhere under Mike Ashley.