Newcastle were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Arsenal in the Premier League last night.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored two and Bukayo Saka also bagged as the Gunners continued their good form of late.
The Magpies have now gone nine games without a win in all competitions and exited both the FA and Carabao Cup.
The club is slipping ever closer to the relegation zone and confidence in Steve Bruce to navigate the team out of trouble is at all-time low.
At the Emirates, Newcastle barely threatened the home side, despite having four attackers on the pitch in Joelinton, Andy Carroll, Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron.
But Newcastle’s defence was also a concern, as it has been for a number of weeks now.
During the winless run Newcastle have shipped 17 goals, which is very alarming given the lack of threat at the other end.
One man who Newcastle almost ended up with last summer, and how they wish they had him now, was Rob Holding who produced another great performance last night.
Supposedly Newcastle were on the verge of signing him on loan (talkSPORT), before Mikel Arteta performed a U-turn and kept the Englishman.
Holding showing what Newcastle are missing
It wasn’t made such a big deal of at the time, but missing out on Holding is now stinging.
Although Newcastle didn’t trouble him too often, last night he was superb for the Gunners, and he has been instrumental in Arsenal’s recent turnaround.
They now have five clean sheets in a row in all competitions, with Holding having played every minute.
The £25,000-a-week star (Spotrac) is a calm yet authoritative presence at the back, and one wonders how Newcastle might be faring if Arteta had not blocked that summer loan.
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