Newcastle flirted with danger once again, but managed to survive after a much stronger second part of the campaign. Coach Benitez’s main summer acquisition was striker Rondon, who turned out to be a very hard worker and extremely important figure for most of the campaign. The Venezuelan was involved in 37% of Newcastle’s goals in one way or another.
The start was dreadful though, with the Magpies last after 10 winless rounds that saw them collect just 3 points. It was November that breathed new life into the squad, and 3 wins in 3 during this month improved the table position straight away.
Still the poor home form up until Christmas was an issue, but then January saw Newcastle finally spending big for the first time in a long time, and despite the fact that the club’s record-signing Almiron didn’t score, his arrival inspired the entire team.
A run of 5 consecutive home wins between January and March was what secured their safety, with the Magpies comfortable enough late in the campaign to simply play for pride.
Defensively there were still issues, while going forward the simplistic approach with Rondon as a target man worked in some games, but didn’t in others. In order to improve in the future Newcastle need to add even more quality this summer. That said after the few months of adaptation big things are expected from Almiron next season.
