Plenty of Newcastle United fans have been giving their thoughts following last weekend’s seventh Premier League loss of the 2018/19 season to Brighton and Hove Albion and a number of fans are unanimous in one decision that manager Rafa Benitez must now take.
Slipping to the bottom of the top-flight table with the 1-0 defeat, leaving us on two points for the year from the opening nine matches, the performance of 31-year-old Senegal international Mohamed Diame was a hot topic for debate as a lot of fans think he’s now slipped back to his old poor ways rather than the type of driving force we know he can be in the middle of the pitch.
They also think a spell out of the side could be key to getting him to buck up his ideas again this year as we invariably battle against relegation to the Championship once again.
Lack of competition leads to reduction in quality. He was top notch last season because a certain Mikel Merino kept him on his toes.
Now, he has no competition at all.
— deji adesoga (@done2stay) October 22, 2018
Include Ayoze and potentially even Kenedy and you’re spot on
— Dylan (@dyIanbrett) October 20, 2018
How is diame still a footballer?!
— Abu Faiz (@AbuFaiz7) October 20, 2018
Hayden in for Diame and Rondon (if fit) in for Perez for me against Southampton #NUFC
— Rafa's ⚫️ & ⚪️ Army (@NUFC_Fan_) October 21, 2018
But apart from that………..
— Craig Anglais (@beardsley8) October 20, 2018
Perez is the worst . He's absolute shocking , championship level at very best . From Shearer & Ferdinand up front to Perez & Joselu, The Ashley era in a oner !
— Frank Drebin (@FrankDr42855441) October 20, 2018
He was far from alone in being poor on Saturday and he’s far from alone in being poor this season, but the comment above about competition could’ve hit the nail on the head.