How Newcastle United’s Attack Would Line Up With Tom Cairney In The Side
Newcastle were promoted to the Premier League after winning the EFL Championship and credits to Rafael Benitez for achieving it. Transfer dealings now become a necessary for the Magpies and some shrewd additions are expected. Here is how Newcastle’s most advanced four may look next season with their new signing included and to be fair, this quartet would cause some damage in the Premier League:
Matt Ritchie (Right-Wing)
Ritchie was quite possibly Newcastle’s player of the season in the Championship despite the presence of Jonjo Shelvey and Dwight Gayle among others. The former Bournemouth winger was super-consistent, playing 42 times in the league and scoring 12 goals while also assisting 7 others.
His pass completion rate of almost 77% is excellent for a player in that position, attempting to find intricate passes to his no.9 which in the main are expected to be blocked by a defender. At 27, Ritchie is definitely getting better and he has proved himself to be a thoroughly capable Premier League player before on the south coast. So next season, a less demanding 38 game campaign should see him in an even better light.
Rolando Aarons (Left-Wing)
I hate this cliché, but if Aarons returns fit and well, he will be just like a new signing. His quality is enormous and he will represent a big improvement on the admittedly hard-working Yoan Gouffran, without the club having to spend a penny extra.
It looks like Rafa has faith in the young Jamaican and so we can expect him to be involved from the beginning next term and fingers crossed, this could be the true beginning of Aarons as a Premier League force.
Tom Cairney (Second Striker)
Second striker or no.10 is how we know this position. However, under Rafa Benitez the role is a little different and this is why he should grab Cairney. Back in his Liverpool days, Rafa must have felt like he had 12 or 13 men. Fernando Torres simply loved having the opposition defensive area all to himself and so he preferred playing as a lone no.9.
This was fine, as he was supported by the super-fit and talented Steven Gerrard at no.10. Gerrard was able to help the other four midfielders when needed, meaning Liverpool had a great defensive base, but could yet propel forward into space when in possession and that added a guaranteed 15-20 goals to the side.
Rafa wanted a Championship version of this which is why he bought Mo Diame and that is why Ayoze Perez didn’t feature as much as we thought he would. But in Cairney, he could once again have the ideal player to fill this role.
Dwight Gayle (Striker)
Like Ritchie on the right, Gayle came from the Premier League but didn’t have enough time in it to show us what he can do. Gayle is a natural goal scorer and Benitez knows this. Such talents don’t really have boundaries and so I’m sure he will be given his chance in the top division in his rightful position.