Demba Ba took his tally to six Premier League goals for the season with a brace against Reading at the Madejski Stadium yesterday afternoon, but with only Hatem Ben Arfa contributing to Newcastle United’s tally in the league, where are the goals going to come from?
Newcastle United have scored eight goals in six Premier League matches this season so far, which works out a 1.33 goals a game. That’s not too bad when you compare it to the 2011/12 campaign when the Magpies scored 56 in 38 at a rate of 1.47 goals a game, but the big concern for Alan Pardew is that the team as a whole aren’t contributing to the score sheet.
So far this season, Demba Ba has scored against Tottenham and Norwich at home, while he’s got braces against Everton and Reading on the road. Hatem Ben Arfa has chipped in with a penalty against Spurs and a stunning strike against Aston Villa. However, no-one else has managed to find the back of the net in the Premier League.
The big difference between this season and last is that Papiss Cisse has yet to score in the league and although he looked to come alive when he got one back against Manchester United in the Capital One Cup, he couldn’t translate that confidence to the match against the Royals.
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In terms on goal contributions, if you take Newcastle’s ideal starting eleven, apart from Yohan Cabaye chipping in with a couple from the middle of the park, you can’t see where the goals are going to come from.
Jonas Gutierrez may get one or two, but he should score more, Cheick Tiote is unlikely to find the back of the net, and a back four of Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Davide Santon and Danny Simpson hardly have any goal scoring pedigree behind them, especially the full backs.
The pressure really needs to be taken off Ba, Cisse and Ben Arfa, as although you expect your forwards to score the lion share of the goals, the top teams see contributions all over the field.
Shola Ameobi should score more from the bench, but one big area I think that Newcastle can improve is from set-pieces, exclusive of Ryan Taylor’s efforts, as if you get good quality balls into the box the likes of Coloccini, Taylor and Mike Williamson will have a better chance of finding the back of the net.
Where would you like to see more goals come from? Let’s hope a third Newcastle player can get their name on the score sheet in the Premier League against Manchester United at St James’ Park next Sunday.
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We will get goals from Cisse, but I look forward to getting them from the young lads – getting their chance and taking it.