Newcastle United’s worrying start to the season continued yesterday when they were held 0-0, by Crystal Palace, at Selhurst Park.
With six games played Rafael Benitez side have accumulated a paltry 2 points from the 18 available and have failed to register a win.
There’s no doubting that kind of form is the form upon which relegation campaigns are fought.
But venturing to London, perhaps we shouldn’t have expected too much. The last 20 Premier League fixtures, in the capital city, have seen Newcastle win 3, draw 3 and lose 14, so, perhaps a draw was a good result.
Reflecting on the game, the travelling support of just under 4,000 saw Crystal Palace have the better chances with a free-kick from Luka Milivojevic hitting the post and Mamadou Sakho missing an absolute sitter, heading wide, after Dubravka misjudged a cross,
Going forward Newcastle were not particularly impressive, the only chance I can recall the side creating saw Perez hit his shot straight at Wayne Hennessey, in the Palace goal after a mistake by James Tomkins.
With the final whistle approaching, Newcastle were, in all honesty, hanging on as our hosts pressed for a winner.
The result leaves Newcastle in 18th place in the Premier League, third from bottom with a fixture against Leicester City, at St James Park, next Saturday, a game we just have to win.
But, returning to the 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace, how did you rate the players?
Who put in a decent shift, who done just enough and who were the slackers?
Please take a few moments to have a go on our new ‘Rate the Players’ feature: