OPINION
This has been a bit of a topsy turvy season for Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles, but there is no doubt that he is going through a tricky period at the moment.
After putting in a woeful performance against Arsenal on Monday night, the 25-year-old followed that up with a second successive shocker against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The former Nottingham Forest man again struggled to cope with the speed and skill of the opposition’s attackers as Newcastle, despite dominating, fell to a late 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park.
Lascelles wasn’t particularly culpable for Luka Milivojevic’s winner from the spot – that was all DeAndre Yedlin – but the captain didn’t show enough leadership or defensive solidity on the occasions when the visitors did put the hosts under pressure on Tyneside.
Whereas Fabian Schar and Florian Lejeune – before suffering a horrific injury – had good games either side of him, the man at the centre of the Magpies defence looked unsure of himself and all too often flustered by the pacy attackers present in the Palace attack.
It would be no surprise, then, if manager Rafael Benitez was considering dropping the axe on the Englishman amid this dire run of form. Paul Dummett came on and played well on Saturday, while Federico Fernandez and Ciaran Clark are also waiting in the wings.
What may save the Newcastle skipper is Lejeune’s injury. If the Frenchman hadn’t gone down with what looks like a season-ending injury then Lascelles would almost certainly have been dropped for Dummett next time out. However, with the Welshman likely to come in for Lejeune, that might mean Lascelles hangs on to his place for the team being.
One thing is certain, though: the centre back needs to seriously buck up his ideas after posting two of his worst performances of the season back-to-back.
