Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea exposed some major flaws in Newcastle United’s squad.
Newcastle United extended their winless run in the Premier League to five games this weekend after losing at Stamford Bridge.
Newcastle have now dropped down to 12th in the Premier League table and have a difficult week ahead with another meeting against Chelsea midweek before facing a visit from Arsenal.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 12 |  NewcastleNewcastle | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 12 |
Eddie Howe‘s side battled hard in the capital but were unable to take their chances with fans unhappy with Alexander Isak after he wasted a big opportunity in the second half.
Scoring goals has been a big issue for Newcastle this season but Sunday’s defeat highlighted other flaws with Eddie Howe admitting his midfield trio must improve.
There were also big issues at the back with Dan Burn and Fabian Schar having an afternoon to forget.
Fabian Schar’s disappointing display vs Chelsea
Schar has been Newcastle’s most important player this season after several impressive performances at the back while his teammates were misfiring up front.
But the 32-year-old put in his worst performance of the season against Chelsea on Sunday alongside Burn who was also underwhelming.
Newcastle attempted to mark Chelsea man-for-man, but it meant Schar and Burn were repeatedly trying to step up and be aggressive in the press.
Ultimately, Schar continued to jump into tackles and didn’t have the pace to recover when the likes of Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer found space behind the backline.
Schar dived in for a tackle on Pedro Neto in the build-up to Chelsea’s opener, and he was spun multiple times by Palmer.
The Newcastle defender ended the match with 70 touches and won only one of his four ground duels. Schar was dribbled past twice, lost possession 12 times and only completed one tackle.
Schar was our lowest-rated Newcastle player on Sunday afternoon and his performance should be ringing alarm bells for Newcastle’s recruitment team.
Newcastle must U-turn on January plans
After an underwhelming summer window and a poor start to the season, the hierarchy at St James’ Park have no option but to spend big in January.
Pressure is building on Howe but the truth is that he has not been backed properly over the last two transfer windows.
READ MORE: Manchester United could hijack Newcastle’s move for ‘exemplary’ £25m target
The noise coming out of St James’ Park is that Newcastle will prioritise signing a right winger in January, which is great news given that the attacking line has looked imbalanced this season.
But it has been reported that Newcastle are unlikely to sign a centre-back in January alongside a winger.
After bids of over £60m for Marc Guehi in the summer, it is clear that there is money to spend. Newcastle cannot afford to end the January transfer window without improving their defence, and Schar and Burn showed exactly why on Sunday.
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