Gottlob

I'm not happy with our transfer window, which has been insufficient and at times embarrassing, and I think after a striker a central midfielder should have been another imperative, but of all the forwards linked Slimani probably leaves me most content. A signing would have been nice, but Jorgensen seemed especially risky, Sturridge is hugely talented but compromised by injuries and I'm not sure how much he can stretch a defence, the same sort of thing is true for Ings who was linked at the start of the window, while Slimani can at least hold the ball up and offers finishing plus an aerial threat. Our style of play, to the extent that we have one, might suit him better than Leicester's swift counter-attacks, and hopefully he'll thrive being the main man up front.

Since Rafa obviously doesn't rate him, at this stage we might be best using Mitrovic to get onto this Arsenal-Chelsea-Dortmund striker roundabout. If we can get Mitrovic's name involved, it means we will end up with one of Aubameyang, Batshuayi, or Giroud, who might not be Sturridge or Jorgensen, our first choices, but I honestly think that any of the three would improve us, even if it was only for half a season.

With that in mind what makes you think we'd sign someone better than Mitro for the price we sell him at, if it's to someone in this division? Especially when in order to improve the squad we're gonna have to look at teams in the higher echelons across Europe, most of which will be aiming for cups and league titles and will require their top goalscorers. We are unlikely to spend more than what we sell as the history of Mike Ashleys tenure here suggests. So what would be the benefit of selling him to fellow relegation candidates? If we don't sell and improve upon him (or worse don't replace him) we've weakened our sporting hand and short term strengthened Mike Ashleys financial hand. We've lost another saleable asset that if a takeover occurred at the end of the season could be sold and add to the investment that would possibly occur. To return to strengthening Ashleys hand financially, if the sporting hand is weakened enough for relegation to happen then it would force him to lose a lot of money or keep us. Theres virtually no realistic positive outcome of us selling Mitro to a relegation rival. Not unless something is done out of the current norm, as far as the club is ran. We are in a relegation fight as things stand, Rafa isn't playing Mitrovic, therefore Mitrovic isn't adding to our 'sporting hand', isn't contributing anything for us on the pitch. The only purported interest in the player has come from within the Premier League, with Premier League clubs most likely to have the funds to spend in the region of the £15 million which seems to be at least approaching our valuation. And my feeling is that for that sort of fee, it should be eminently possible to find a forward capable of contributing something rather than nothing. Clubs aiming for cups and titles in the higher echelons of Europe have nothing to do with it. Who is suggesting that our squad is so strong, that our strikers are performing to such a high standard, that only a player from one of Europe's top clubs would constitute an improvement on what little we've got? Unless Rafa is convinced that the money won't be reinvested - which hasn't been the practise so far during his reign - he should have enough conviction, in his judgement of the player and in his scouting prowess, to move Mitrovic on and to bring in a replacement who can help us over the coming months.

Whether he doesn't rate him or feels he can't trust him - and I can certainly understand both perspectives - if Rafa isn't willing to play Mitrovic he should have enough conviction to sell him and find a more suitable replacement. If we're not willing to sell players to our Premier League rivals, we're going to struggle to sell anyone for a substantial fee. And as I posted before, Rafa has at least been allowed to spend, more or less, what he has brought in via player sales, spending around £100 million and selling players for about £10 million more than that.

Who other than a Premier League rival is going to possess the inclination and the resources to spend £15 million on Mitrovic? And as much as we are right to bemoan the lack of investment in the squad, Benitez has broadly been allowed to spend the money he has brought in via player sales: on the basis of my last check, he's spent around £100 million and sold players for about £10 million more than that. I don't dislike Mitrovic, but if a bid has been made it's an easy decision in my opinion for one of the most peripheral members of our first team squad.

I'm no big fan of our squad, but I look at Stoke with their array of impotent strikers and Adam and Cameron in midfield, or at Brighton and Bournemouth earlier today, and I think our squad can compete with a good number at the lower end of the league.

Holy crap, I had no idea his presence impacts us so much. He hasn't started eight of our games this season, and two of those were against Manchester United and Manchester City, but I still think he's an important player for us despite his faults, whose work during our good run earlier in the season went a little overlooked.

That's 18 of our 22 points this season from games which Perez started, 1.29 points per game from those he's started, 0.5 points per game when he has not.

I wasn't dismayed nor overly enthralled with today's lineup: I would have played Perez behind a striker with Atsu and Murphy either side, and I'm no fan of Shelvey but nobody has really staked a claim for either of those central midfield positions. The important thing is that we won, and as others have suggested, after the game against West Ham and two imperfect, fairly stolid, but still solid performances against Manchester City and Brighton, it does feel now as though we've turned the corner following a poor couple of months. We're right back in the pack and should have regained a bit of confidence. I do think that after Lascelles, Perez should be one of the first names on the teamsheet, and that Murphy is really adding pace and directness which, complemented by Atsu, makes us much more difficult to defend against. Again I'd want a combative central midfielder and a striker to add to that, and then we can look at the other positions like the number 10 role and left-back.

Shearer can be one of your favourites, but to place him above all else as your outright favourite quite frankly beggars belief.

I'd start Perez too. I've just had a quick check and 15 of our 19 points this season have come in games which he started. I know he was a regular until early November, but still for me he's one of the hardest working members of the team defensively, does an important job closing down the lines between the opposition defence and midfield, and for all his flaws and despite his weakness on the ball he is one of the few players we possess who can take up intelligent attacking positions and has the nous to link the play.

I think the majority of Newcastle fans appreciate that Rafa was stymied by Ashley in the summer, and like and respect Rafa and realise the likely alternatives would be so much worse. But I also think it's hard to argue he's been getting the best out of what he has over the last couple of months. We know that he didn't get the money needed in the summer, and that he was misled to some extent over the budget while the other promoted clubs Brighton and Huddersfield were able to invest. On the other hand our recent history in the Premier League gave us a wage bill £30 million in excess of those clubs last season, while the sales of assets like Sissoko and Wijnaldum among others have allowed Rafa to spend almost £100 million gross, even while making a net profit for us in the transfer market. That's more money to spend on players than Brighton, Huddersfield, and even Premier League clubs like Burnley, Bournemouth, West Brom, and Stoke, and as woeful as our squad undoubtedly is, I don't think it's far and away the worst squad in the league. Half of the first team squad is made up of players Rafa signed. Like others, I'm surprised that Rafa has moved away from his trusty 4-2-3-1, which seems especially unlike him because it's obviously providing us with less cover, less possession, and less control without reliably boosting our goalscoring. Our defence usually does look more organised than it did under Rafa's predecessors, and that structure extends to the attack, but we're as poor as ever when it comes to possession and movement through the midfield and in the final third of the pitch. Players like Mbemba, Mitrovic, Aarons, even Murphy have probably been underutilised. And I don't think you can always affirm the effort of the players, because against Manchester United, Watford, and even yesterday for instance, the players' heads have dropped or they haven't looked fully committed. I don't doubt the players' fondness or respect for Rafa, but the approach probably isn't hugely motivating when you're not grinding out the results. I also think that Rafa plays politics too readily without being particularly good at it or having anywhere to go, and that the takeover has negatively affected our season. I'd like to see us back to a 4-2-3-1 with Perez in the hole behind the striker, Atsu and Murphy starting on the wings, and for me the priorities in January should be a striker and a central midfielder, because at the moment - with Saivet something of a wild card - we don't seem able to muster a competent pairing in the centre of the pitch. A functioning left-back and an improvement or at least competition for Perez would be next on the list. I also think Mbemba warrants a run in the centre of defence at some point, though we seem to have regained our composure at the back since Lascelles returned from injury.

One way or another the Luiz, Hamsik, Sturridge, and Slimani deals appear to be happening, and it wouldn't surprise me at all, wonderful man that he is, if Rafa managed to revive moves for Loftus-Cheek, Townsend, and Abraham, despite a couple of them being mid-way through loans. With all of that pretty much done and dusted, it gives Rafa the whole of January to look for a keeper, that'll be his focus, and whoever he gets will be a damn sight better than what we had and I'll be grateful for it. The problem is that at left back that still leaves the horrendous Javier Manquillo and the barely fit and none too appetising Paul Dummett.

Granted we had a run of opportune fixtures, but the statistics show 3 wins out of 5 when Shelvey was out or coming back from suspension, and 1 win out of 8 in those games he has started. I do think we relinquish the midfield too often when he is playing. He doesn't press or cover properly, and I think his creativity is overstated: his long passing game is excellent, but how often does he create clear chances, and how often do even his good balls get cut out or lead only to crosses which are also relatively easy to defend against? He doesn't have the pace or footwork to influence the game in the final third, it always has to be from a deep position, and that's a huge limitation no matter how many runners he has around him.

We're still in a decent position in the league, so today's poor performance and result shouldn't cause us to wail or panic, but however much we're lacking firepower up front our problems and deficiencies extend throughout the team. The wide players are mediocre at best. Manquillo isn't good defensively but just like Dummett before him, he's showing that full backs with technique and a capacity to attack are a necessity rather than a luxury. And without Merino, we're getting nothing from the centre of midfield, no pace or ball retention or penetration in the final third, a lack of sharp short passing, and thanks to Shelvey little defensive cover. We know that our squad isn't great, but I do think we should be reintegrating or making better use of the likes of Mbemba, Aarons, and Mitrovic.

We've scored ten goals this season, and Perez has been involved in at least four of them: he helped Ritchie win the ball back before Joselu's opener against West Ham, and played a lovely flicked pass to assist Mitrovic for our third, then he was tenacious down the left in the build-up to Hayden's goal against Southampton before scoring the second. Three of our other goals have come from corners, and I think it was against Swansea that Perez made a basic but still fairly useful run off the front post before Lascelles' header. He goes to ground far too easily and loses the ball too often, and his final ball is too often poor: he seems to be hitting most of his shots and crosses low and first time, and he's scuffing them and there's little subtlety. His control is inconsistent. But he's still the only player both tasked with and capable of receiving the ball in tight spaces, he's the only one who does look for quick flicks and one-twos, and when they come off he is willing to surge with the ball into space. Generally I think even in an attacking sense he's involved in most of our best stuff from open play, while he's surely doing everything Rafa asks of him closing down the lines defensively. He's also playing in the most difficult role in our side. Our central midfielders sit very deep, and the wide players stick to their flanks and have plenty of defensive responsibilities, so it's not like he has options when he does receive the ball or receives much support in that crucial role really between the centre circle and the opposition penalty area. For me he's still a useful member of the squad, who is receiving a bit of excessive criticism as the fall guy for our attacking deficiencies and because in that position, we have no other viable option.

Excellent play by Perez only for Shelvey to boot the ball away as usual.

All summer I've wanted someone with similar characteristics to Gayle, who could serve as a like-for-like replacement and compete for that starting spot. One game against West Ham hasn't convinced me that we won't spend much of the season sitting deep and hitting balls over the top: whether in the vicinity of Gayle our out wide, it was the thrust of our attacks last season, and it requires someone with pace who can stretch the opposition defence. Do we have the attacking midfielders to score goals behind a less clinical target man? As superbly as Joselu played on Saturday, even in that game he didn't look like a finisher, just in time for our first but looking least sharp in front of goal. Without an immediate replacement, selling Gayle would leave us without a goalscorer and reliant on a very different style of play.

Perez for all the criticism had a hand in two of our goals, helping Ritchie win the ball for the first and providing the assist for the third. He also forced a good save out of Hart in the first seconds of the second half, and I thought worked his way into the game. Joselu and Merino really impressed and with their movement and ball retention, made our attack look more fluid than it has in years, admittedly against a very poor West Ham. Hayden and Merino have surely played themselves into starting slots, and Mbemba's made a strong case for his inclusion somewhere in the team. A really good performance all round.

'He passes and he passes, He passes and he passes, He loves Jonjo Shelvey He's wor Jonjo Shelvey Du dududu *click click*'

It's not the formation so much as the way we play it, with the wide attackers fairly fixed and having to get through plenty of defensive work, while of the central midfielders only Hayden is capable of carrying the ball forward - and even then, it's a bit hit and miss as to whether he does that or simply sits deep splaying passes. We're not very good at keeping the ball, moving off the ball, or bringing the number 10 into play.

I've heard that to secure his signing we're going to have to nick his papa Vasily too.

I like De Jong because my impression is that he's good technically and a quick thinker in the final third, but I struggle to see how he fits in our system. I still think the number 10 role was a really difficult one to fill last season, with the central midfielders tending to sit deep, and so many balls going long either out wide or over the top for Gayle to chase. How does De Jong contribute to that process? Diame was often preferred as a sort of battering ram, to chase and battle for loose balls, and Perez is at least mobile.

If Chelsea are after Gayle we could do worse than use the money to sign Batshuayi and Ross Barkley.

I'm sure that some of it - my guess is a lot of it - rests on his shared name and the extent to which his languid style resembles Shola's, but I think there's a huge discrepancy between the quality of Sammy's performances for us and his reputation as a comic no-hoper, a bit of light relief if only he wasn't such a catastrophic parasite. He's no world beater obviously, he's always struggled with his stamina when asked to play ninety minutes, and he's seemed disinterested and struggled to fit in whenever we've sent him out on loan. But I thought in the one season he featured regularly for us he didn't look entirely out of place as a Premier League player. He was certainly no worse than our other admittedly poor wide options in Gouffran and Cabella, he tended to stick to his position, showing a decent relationship with Dummett and never shirking the need to help cover for the full-back, and I think he has talent in the final third, capable of whipping in a dangerous cross, able to go past people even if its in a fumbling fashion and despite his lack of quickness, and with a lot of patience on the ball and the ability to find a through-pass. McClaren came in and his inclination was to toss the youngsters: Abeid was sold, Sammy loaned, and although they were the only performers in the pre-season, Perez and Aarons started the season on the bench. I don't think Sammy deserved to lose his place in the squad then, and I think this season he could have really contributed in the Championship. He's looked good to me, confident, composed, even classy, in his precious few substitute appearances, including for a few minutes last night. Tall too, which shouldn't hurt.