When drilling down into the numbers amassed from Newcastle United’s season, a major problem is emerging.
Indeed, while it is an open secret that the Magpies’ best player is Allan Saint-Maximin, the rest of the team simply aren’t passing him the ball enough.
The Frenchman’s seven goal contributions last season was bettered only by Jonjo Shelvey and Steve Bruce’s side have still only won one of eleven games without him, while his 8.38 dribbles completed per game was by far and away the best return of any Toon player.
Simply put, if Newcastle are looking to progress the ball, then it’s Saint-Maximin’s shoulders that particular task falls upon.
So then, it stands to reason that giving him the ball more would help a side with the fifth-lowest xG in the Premier League improve their attacking play. After all, during a weekend in which teams in the division broke a record for the most goals scored in a single game week, Bruce’s team didn’t even register a shot on target despite boasting an attack worth near £80m.
Which is why the fact Saint-Maximin receives only 13.98 passes a game seems so strange.
Obviously, the fact the likes of Jamaal Lascelles and Federico Fernandez are likely to knock it to each other before an attempted long ball (4.64 and 4.74 respectively), or feed Shelvey dropping deep into midfield, skew the numbers somewhat but the question remains.
How can Newcastle’s most progressive runner be expected to perform miracles when he sees so little of the one thing he needs? Clearly, given his attacking prowess, he’s likely to be marked tightly as teams look to nullify his threat but, frankly, that’s a problem all top players have.
As he showed against Burnley, he is able to then feed Callum Wilson and make the most of Newcastle finally having a striker of note.
Newcastle have an Allan Saint-Maximin problem in that they’re not feeding him enough to cause exactly that against opposition on a consistent basis. Bruce must find the answer.