Football Season Guide

After achieving a quick return to the top flight, Newcastle United will look to establish themselves as a solid mid-table team this season. Rafa Benitez is a world-famous manager that has won the highest prizes in football in his career and he definitely knows how to make teams work, plus the common opinion is that the Championship winners from last season have plenty of talent in their ranks. Of course, Benitez is strengthening the squad this summer due to the much higher class of the opponents to be faced and he already added three of his countrymen to the group. Florian Lejeune also comes to Newcastle to provide a third solid option for the heart of the defence and the Magpies are expected to use an aggressive 3-4-3 formation against weaker opponents as a result of that. Javier Manquillo is a useful full-back that can operate equally well down both flanks, while the bright and very talented midfielder Mikel Merino hopes to form a solid partnership with Jonjo Shelvey. Newcastle also made Christian Atsu’s move permanent this summer and the addition of Jacob Murphy provides them with options down the wings, where Matt Ritchie is the big star and main creator. Just like every newly promoted side the key will be the home fixtures, but Benitez is very experienced and he knows that if the defensive displays are stable, the Magpies can enjoy solid away displays too. Newcastle’s main problem seems to be in attack at the minute where Aleksandar Mitrovic has not been as good as was expected ever since he joined the club three years ago. Dwight Gayle was the best striker in the squad last season but his past experience in the top flight is hardly convincing anyone that he could score 15+ goals. Despite his under-performing on many occasions most pundits still think that Mitrovic is the team’s best striker so if the tall and very good in the air Serbian finds his mojo, Newcastle might avoid difficulties in front of goal.