OPINION
Saturday’s game against Leicester City at St James’ Park has the look of a must-win affair for struggling Newcastle United.
The Magpies are still awaiting their first Premier League victory of the season after last weekend’s dull goalless draw with Crystal Palace.
One of the few interesting tidbits from the game at Selhurst Park, though, was Rafael Benitez’s decision to replace Salomon Rondon with Joselu at half time.
Perhaps it was simply a tactical change, but maybe the Spaniard is becoming increasingly frustrated by the Venezuelan’s slow start to life on Tyneside.
Indeed, Rondon has been completely outplayed by Joselu this season, with the former Stoke City man looking more dangerous than the West Brom loanee every time he steps on the pitch.
The Spaniard, on a reported £40,000-per-week [Source: Spotrac], is still too wasteful, and that’s something he needs to work on, but he has visibly improved this season after a pretty poor debut campaign at Newcastle.
In fact he has scored twice in six games this season, with those goals coming in just 366 minutes of action [Source: Transfermarkt], which works out as a goal every 183 minutes – or essentially a strike every other game, not a bad record for any striker.
Rondon has simply looked flat since joining the club, although it must be said that he is feeding on scraps with the limited number of chances this Newcastle side are creating.
Joselu is a willing runner, and has shown that he knows where the back of the net is. He’s not going to get you 20+ goals a season, but he is the hot hand for Newcastle at this stage.
Benitez should select the in form man, and axe the summer recruit, for the visit of Leicester. The Foxes are a good side, but a home game against them should be a decent chance for the Magpies to get their first win of the season.
To do that they need the industrious and ever-improving Joselu up front. It may not be popular with every Newcastle fan, but the Spaniard is simply the better choice at this moment in time.
