This Relegated Defender Would Be A Perfect Option For Newcastle To Add Steel At The Back

Why Andy Robertson Is Perfect For Newcastle United

For my money, there is little wrong with Paul Dummett at Newcastle and any criticism he’s had from fans is unwarranted. Nobody played more minutes than the Welsh international for Rafa Benitez last season and that in itself is some pat on the back. He is a safe pair of hands at left-back and is as fit a footballer as you are likely to see in the modern game.

Dummett’s limitations come when he goes forward and it’s this area Rafa may feel he needs to improve before Newcastle kick-off in the Premier League against Tottenham in August. Andy Robertson of Hull is now being linked with a move to Tyneside

Here we take a look at some key offensive stats comparing Dummett and Robertson, taken from last season’s league games:

	Pass Completion	Dribbles	Key Passes	Assists	Goals
Paul Dummett	73.9%	0.1	0.7	0	0
Andy Robertson	76%	0.8	0.6	2	1

Given that Dummett was in a team that was winning most weeks and playing up against Championship level players, whereas Robertson was up against Premier League stars in a struggling team which was relegated, the attacking stats between these two are incomparable.

Robertson is the epitome of an attacking fullback and in a team not struggling so much, he could be quite a star. From a personal point of view, I have shouted the name of Robertson for Newcastle for a couple of years now, ever since I saw his lovely goal for Scotland against England at Parkhead.

He links up well with midfielders, strikers and wingers, and is very creative. There has been a talk of Celtic’s Kieran Tierney taking his left-back role with Scotland but I’m not totally convinced to be honest. I prefer Robertson and he has as yet not had the same opportunities as Tierney.

Tierney plays every week at present for a team that is winning the vast majority of its games easily, while Robertson has plied his trade for Hull between the Championship and the lower end of the Premier League table. Should Tierney get a gig with Man United or Arsenal, he may be in just the same position and yet we have seen what Robertson can do at international level.

He is impressive and, more to the point perhaps, is better than anything Newcastle have in terms of left-backs at present. So with the name of the game being improvement, he would fit right in at St James’s Park.