Tony Cascarino panned Newcastle United’s decision to let Aleksandar Mitrovic join Fulham and send Dwight Gayle to West Bromwich Albion in the summer, while sharing that Rafa Benitez should take some of the blame for the club’s struggles.
The pundit, regularly seen on Sky Sports’ Daily programme, shared he still didn’t understand how Mitrovic didn’t excel at the Magpies while stating that even though Gayle isn’t a great Premier League striker, he did contribute the odd goal.
Cascarino admitted those two player exits could have been down to the board but claimed Benitez didn’t get the best out of either.
“I don’t understand how Aleksandar Mitrovic didn’t work out and he’s been impressive for Fulham and they also sold Dwight Gayle — not a great Premier League striker but someone who will always cause problems in the box and get the odd important goal,” wrote the Sky pundit for The Times.
“Maybe the departure of those players was down to the board but Benítez didn’t seem able to get the best out of them, particularly Mitrovic.
“Rafa Benítez should be taking some of the blame for Newcastle’s struggles — he’s been getting away with it until now.
“Don’t get me wrong, some of the decisions at board level have made things difficult and, yes, they haven’t spent big in recent transfer windows but their performances on the pitch, at home, have not been good enough, I’m not talking about those games against the top six where Benítez sets his teams up to defend, I don’t mind that.”
OPINION
Mitrovic has been flying at Fulham and is probably the reason why the Cottagers currently sit ahead of the Magpies in the Premier League table. Slaviša Jokanović’s side have been defensively woeful but due to the Serbian forward being a guaranteed source of goals for them, they actually have a respectable amount of points on the board. So it’s easy to understand why Cascarino is confused to this day about why Mitrovic didn’t excel at St James Park and why he criticised the decision to let him go. It’s also logical to work out the reasons why the pundit isn’t raving about the decision to part company with Gayle as the hard-working forward has lit up The Hawthorns as he scored five goals in eight league appearances for WBA. While the forward may be delivering the goods at Championship level, Gayle is needed at the Magpies right now as at least he also attempted to take games by the scruff of the neck even if he didn’t have finishing ability to back up his workrate. As for Cascarino’s verdict on the Benitez, then it’s true the manager should take a little bit of blame for the Magpies struggles but it shouldn’t be underestimated how hard his job have been made by the board.
