Chronicle journalist Mark Douglas believes that Rafa Benitez needs to make changes up front in order to improve our threat in front of goal.
The reporter believes that our lack of goals needs to be addressed and that the manager must consider dropping Joselu despite the Spaniard scoring on the opening day against Spurs:
Saturday was the fifth time in the last 6 games #nufc have failed to score.
Surely Muto/Rondon must start v Chelsea?
Joselu is willing & played well v Spurs but he's started in 5 of those 6 barren games.
— Mark Douglas (@MsiDouglas) August 21, 2018
Fans on Twitter are mostly in agreement:
I fear Joselu will start. Offers next to nothing. I’d have Perez out as well, was extremely poor on Saturday.
— Jack (@jackm1892) 21 August 2018
I think its time now. But Rafa is stubborn.
— The Ginger Pirlo™️ (@TheGingerPirlo_) 21 August 2018
Rondon will start against Chelsea. Benitez rewards his players with keeping their place in the team if they’ve performed & Joselu had a good game against Spurs. It’ll be Rondon on Sunday though-he’s giving him time to bed in & train. Him and Muto will feature prominently ASAP.
— Jenky (@_Jenky88) 21 August 2018
Joselu is a major problem. He was pivotal in our awful run last run due to doing all his work “heading” around the halfway line and pinning us back 20 yards. Working hard is an excuse and dropping him was as important as Diame coming in.
— Michael Atkinson (@ATKmichael) 21 August 2018
He just isn’t good enough. There’s no nice way to flour it up. Nice bloke but not at the level we need. RB is said to be ruthless…..it’s clearly time to be now. No sentiment in the PL.
— Andrew Wells (@andw19) 21 August 2018
Tbh i never think joselu and perez link up well together. Perez has his faults and haters but he tends to link up with the likes of gayle, joselu ect. But him and joselu tend to be anonymous when together
— Shaun (@ShaunGrey22) 21 August 2018
One fan did, however, defend Joselu:
But the 1 goal we did score was by Joselu.
— JP Quinn (@AttackingCB) 21 August 2018
Against Cardiff, the front two offered very little, but it must also be said that they weren’t offered a great deal of service. Still, Joselu’s anonymous display in Wales will likely prompt Rafa to give Salomon Rondon his first start.
The Venezuelan can’t do much worse than the Spaniard who failed to hold up the ball against the Bluebirds on Saturday. Whether we’ll start Muto ahead of Perez, I’m not so sure.
Against Chelsea, Rafa will want players he can trust to keep their positions in an organised defence. He may not have had enough time to work with the Japanese international, which may give Ayoze the edge.