Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle - The 'Index 6'

1. Newcastle need to sign a proven goal-scorer as soon as possible.

When playing the top teams, especially away from home, clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities are going to be at a premium. Therefore, if a good chance is created, it is imperative that you make the most of it. The fact that Newcastle had 15 shots at the Emirates Stadium – 6 of which were on target – and failed to score, is criminal. Eight of these shots fell to Aleksander Mitrovic and Georginio Wijnaldum, who would probably be considered two of the best prospects to score.

The fact that they didn’t, especially when most of them came at a time when Newcastle were dominating the game, is undoubtedly the reason we didn’t get at least a point. However, what it did prove is that Newcastle cannot afford to wait for Mitrovic to find the knack of scoring in the Premier League on a consistent basis. We need to bring someone in now. Someone that has already shown they can score goals in the English top division. Whether that is Charlie Austin, Loic Remy or someone else, it needs to happen immediately. It’s no good waiting until the last week of the transfer window, as this always runs the risk of running into complications with the deal, and ending up with no one.

Equally, it is no good bringing someone in from abroad who has potential. This would prove to be too big a gamble, and the stakes are simply too high to risk it all on an inexperienced (in the Premier League) striker that may take time to find his feet…time Newcastle are rapidly running out of.

2. Newcastle need to raise their game against ALL opposition – not just the big teams.

If you look back through the season, Newcastle’s best performances (Norwich City apart) have all come against the top teams. Chelsea, Liverpool, 40 minutes at Manchester City, Arsenal. It cannot be coincidence that they manage to pull out their best performances in these games. However, these games are the type that if we get anything out of them it is considered a bonus.

What we need to do is put in these type of performances against the teams that we are expected to do well against. Instead we have tended to underachieve in these games – whether they are home or away. It is the outcome of these types of game that will decide whether we remain in the Premier League or not. The cynical view is that players like Moussa Sissoko only perform to their maximum ability in these games as they use them as an opportunity to showcase their talents to the opposing manager in a hope to catch their eye for upcoming transfer windows.

However, I think it is more down to the fact that they feel under less pressure in games where they are expected to be second best, and therefore, play with the shackles off. Until they learn to play like this in all games, there is little prospect of us climbing the table.

3. Width will be the key to success

As much as the need for a new striker is obvious to all, another essential area that the club need to address this month is to solve their winger conundrum. I cannot help but feel that if we had a top quality winger that could get outside a full-back and hit the by-line consistently to cross the ball into the box, Mitrovic would have had a far better goals scored per game ratio. We rely too much on Daryl Janmaat providing the overlapping runs to cross the ball. If this doesn’t come off, then it often leaves us exposed at the back. We need a proper out and out winger.

Whether the club are serious in bringing Andros Townsend to the club – as the media suggest – only Lee Charnley and Steve McClaren know, but it would be a good move for all concerned, in my opinion. Townsend is desperate for games before the Euros this summer; Spurs obviously don’t rate him for their starting line-up for whatever reason, so they will be willing sellers, one would think; Newcastle need a winger, and it would get most of the fans excited to think a current England international was coming in. We do, of course, have Florian Thauvin to call upon.

However, as metioned previously, I am not sure Newcastle have enough time to allow player to find their form. We need players who can come into the team and make an immediate impact. I still think it is too early to write-off Thauvin, as he is still young, and I am convinced that he will benefit from his first year in England, and that Newcastle will reap the rewards of this next season. The urgency of the situation Newcastle currently find themselves in though, suggests that we need to solve the width problem sooner rather than later.

4. Cheick Tiote proved many of the doubters wrong

Many fans, myself included, had openly said that Cheick Tiote’s best seasons were behind him. This, of course, may well still be the case, but his performance alongside Jack Colback at Arsenal was a throwback to the Tiote of old. He was outstanding in the middle of the park, and both he and Colback complemented each other’s games perfectly. With Tiote performing so well, it was the first time this season that we have really seen Colback playing as the more advanced of the two holding midfielders.

This made Colback’s performance probably his best of the season too. Tiote was hungry, and determined, and seemed to want the ball all the time. In fact, he was often popping up as a third central defender, and almost operating as a sweeper at times, when the need arose. Whether he had been told by the manager that he was in the last chance saloon with regard to his Newcastle career, or whether he merely felt an obligation to put a shift in, in a bid to win back a regular starting spot, nobody knows, but whatever the reason, as long as he plays like this, Vurnon Anita – for all of his better performances this season – will find it difficult to remove him from the team when he returns to match fitness.

5. Boring, boring Arsenal? Well, there fans certainly are.

I have never been fond of Arsenal fans. I find the majority of them arrogant, smarmy and ignorant. For as long as I remember, they have always took pride in the opportunity to ridicule opposition teams and fans. I remember the Highbury days when we had to endure their constant chants of “Silverwear, no silverwear, You still ain’t got no silverwear”, and I also remember being on the train from Wembley to Central London with their fans after they had just beaten us in the FA Cup final. I was amazed that they all just sat there reading their programmes and talking about nonsense.

They had just won the cup for goodness sake! I couldn’t believe that they were not jumping all over the place, singing, celebrating…or doing something! These fans believe they have a God-given right to win things…such is their arrogance. During this weekend’s game, the atmosphere, when things were not going as smoothly for them as the assumed they would, was non-existent. The only noise was coming from the away corner. Even worse is the way they all turn up after the kick-off, leave about seven or eight minutes before half-time, return a similar length of time after the second half has started, and then leave prior to the final whistle. They only started getting behind their team when they unjustly took the lead.

Many neutrals throughout the country want Arsenal to win the title. Not me. Their fans do not deserve to win anything, and even if they do win, they’ll only spend the next twenty years telling everyone that they expected it anyway.

6. Newcastle will play worse than this and win.

As demoralising as the loss was, there were definitely reasons to be optimistic after this game. We made the potential champions for this season look distinctly ordinary at times, and, on another day, we would have taken one or two of the chances we had and won this game. We dominated the midfield battle, created the better chances, and, in all honesty, never looked like conceding until they nicked their winner. As cliché as it is, the performance was very good, the only thing that ruined it was the result. I am the first to say that you get no points for playing well, and only goals matter, which is true.

However, what you do get from a display like this is renewed hope. If only we can find a level of consistency that is on a par with this, we will leave the threat of relegation behind. In fact, I would be bold enough to say that if we play as well as this in our next league game – Manchester United at home – we will take the three points. Of course, this is Newcastle United, and they seem to specialise in getting your hopes up before dashing them with a new found level of ineptitude having provided reasons for optimism. This is the way of the world for Newcastle fans. One thing to be said for us all is that it is never boring!