Sky Sports pundit Matt Le Tissier believes Benitez needs to bring in a new striker AND a new goalkeeper in the transfer window this month, stating that is it ‘just shocking’ that our top scorer is on three goals.
Monday’s win over Stoke may have propelled us up to 13th in the table, but Le Tissier clearly feels there’s work to be done in the transfer market in order for us to beat the drop – stating we are ‘in trouble otherwise’.
The 49-year-old has been assessing where each team needs to strengthen this month and has had the following to say about NUFC in his column on Sky Sports this week:
“I think they need a centre-forward as Joselu hasn’t really done it and Dwight Gayle is a bit hit and miss, and then, like a few sides, they need more contributions from midfield.
“Their top goal scorers have three goals after 20 games, which is just shocking.”
Le Tissier also believes a new striker isn’t the only area Benitez needs to strengthen however, with him feeling that a ‘top drawer’ goalkeeper is also needed – with him clearly seeing little in our current first-team options Elliot and Darlow:
“Then a top-drawer goalkeeper would help, no disrespect to Rob Elliot and Karl Darlow,”
“If Rafael Benitez gets those reinforcements he needs then you would back him to keep them in the Premier League but they are in trouble otherwise.”
In fairness, he’s not wrong here. Just six goals between our two strikers is not enough at this stage of the season and despite Darlow and Elliot’s match winning performances in recent weeks, a new number one is clearly high on Rafa’s agenda.
A goalscorer and new number 10 really are required to give us the much needed firepower this team has missed so far this season. It’s quite telling when two defenders feature highly on our top scorers list!
Do you feel a striker and goalkeeper are the two most important areas to strengthen this month?
