It is difficult to criticise Rafa Benitez and I don’t plan to do so here. Jonjo Shelvey leaves a massive gap in the side and it was always going to be a struggle to replace him like-for-like. Jack Colback is tenacious and a useful player to have in the squad, but he isn’t going to dominate matches like Shelvey does.
Against Sheffield Wednesday, we lacked ideas and created few clear cut chances. One noticeable problem was in the wide areas. We lined up with Matt Ritchie and Yoan Gouffran as our wingers. These both look to drift inside and influence the game from there, thus leaving space on the wings for the full backs to push up and overlap.
The problem on Boxing Day was that we started with Vurnon Anita and Paul Dummett, neither of whom are overly attacking. Although Anita does overlap occasionally, he prefers to cross the ball from deep. Against Wednesday, there were blockages on both wings and we failed to take advantage of the space created by the inverted wingers. The central area was packed and there was little opportunity to create.
This is where the absence of Shelvey was noticeable. His presence allows us to play with inverted wingers and more defensive full backs as he can pick passes that give the attackers an extra yard of space. This allows Benitez to start with a more conservative looking defence.
There was nobody on Monday that was able to play these passes and that led to a lack of incisiveness in the final third. It is easy to suggest that Colback isn’t good enough to replace Shelvey and he certainly doesn’t possess the technical ability. However, changing to more attacking full-backs may provide the outlet that we need to thrive in Shelvey’s absence.
In DeAndre Yedlin and Achraf Lazaar, we have full backs that can provide more dynamism to our attacking play. They would both look to overlap and provide creativity from the wide areas. Yedlin has a lot of pace and has shown on numerous occasions this season that he is a good player. Meanwhile, Lazaar has shown flashes of his technical ability and would offer more attacking quality than Paul Dummett.
St James’ Park is a wide pitch and Newcastle lacked ideas on Monday. If they change both full backs, they can stretch the play and provide their own attackers with more space to operate in. It wouldn’t be the same as the style that has been successful with Shelvey, but they need to change if they are to continue winning matches without him.
There are some that would be cautious about playing two attacking full backs as it could leave us open to the counter attack. However, I’d suggest it would have the opposite effect. We were open to the counter attack on Monday as we were too hesitant in possession and continued to give the ball away in dangerous areas with our two centre midfielders trying to play a game that wasn’t natural to them.
If we change to a more wing-based system, Colback and Hayden can be more conservative, providing a shield to the defence allowing us to remain covered at the back if we do give the ball away. Another option would be to start Christian Atsu, but it is difficult building our attacking plans around him just weeks before he leaves for the African Cup of Nations.
Rafa Benitez knows best, of course he does. I’m sure he already has plans to recover from Saturday’s defeat. I’m just providing a possible option that could help us deal with the absence of Shelvey. We have two very good attacking full backs and they could be the answer. It would be a risk for Benitez to start with both, but after the poor attacking performance from Monday, it could just be a good move.