Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez has said he is happy with Aleksandar Mitrovic’s performance. The 22-year-old hasn’t been really used by Benitez and he only made his fifth start in the Championship in the 2-2 draw with Norwich City.
The forward has a problem with his temperament and had past history of scuffles on the field. The Serbian forward has only played two full ninety minutes in this season.
Mitrovic was substituted by Dwight Gayle in the last match and the former couldn’t hide his emotions after getting replaced. The striker arrived from Anderlecht and hasn’t been able to justify his hefty price tag so far. Despite his behaviour, Benitez has heaped praises on the player, “I am happy with the way he was playing.
“His contributions were quite good, Ayoze was the same. A lot of players were involved. Christian Atsu came on and he was too.
“You can see the team want to win and that is a very positive sign for our fans.”
Newcastle United are currently sitting comfortably at the top of the table with 66 points and if everything goes like this they will be on their way to the Premier League once again.
Mitrovic had his chances but couldn’t use them properly. In October when the Magpies highest scorer Dwight Gayle was sidelined Benitez handed chance to Mitrovic to exploit his chances. The youngster had shown promises but couldn’t manage to hold on to that forcing the gaffer to make alternate decisions. He was dropped from the squad against Blackburn Rovers.
One of the shameful incidents in this season was their FA Cup exit in the hand of Oxford United. The League One side inflicted a horrific defeat to Newcastle as they romped in three goals to crash them out of the competition. But things could have been different had Mitrovic not missed some glittering chances. He also missed a penalty as the Championship side’s hope of moving further in the tournament dashed.
Maybe time for Rafa to take a tough decision on Mitrovic. After all, if Newcastle United does get promoted to the Premier League, they cannot afford to have a striker who is this unreliable.
