Depending on your viewpoint, Newcastle United's draw against Chelsea on Saturday was either a point earned or two dropped. Considering they led with just four minutes remaining, probably the latter.
A point kept them firmly rooted in the bottom three, with only North-east neighbours Sunderland propping them and the rest of the Premier League up.
But manager Steve McClaren needs to see the world through rose-tinted glasses at the moment and focus on positives, of which there were at least three from Saturday’s 2-2 draw at St James’ Park.
Kevin Mbabu put in a commendable shift at left-back to mark his Premier League debut. The 20-year-old Swiss asked plenty of questions of opposite number Branisalv Ivanovic in the first half and stuck to his defensive duties doggedly to subdue both Pedro and Eden Hazard.
In midfield, Vernon Anita was tigerish in the tackle and first to every ball in the opening 45 minutes. The Dutchman stuck to his task manfully as Ramires came on and threatened to steal all three points for Chelsea.
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But perhaps most encouraging for Newcastle and their long-suffering fans was the performance of striker Aleksandar Mitrovic.
After last week’s shambolic exit to a Sheffield Wednesday reserves side in the League Cup, McClaren demanded his players respond with a performance against the English champions. None was more bullish than the Serb’s.
Playing most of the game with his back to goal, Mitrovic held the ball up superbly, always offering his defenders an out-ball and bringing the likes of Ayoze Perez and Moussa Sissoko into game with assured touches and neat flicks.
He galvanised the crowd and urged them to cheer the team on during every one of Newcastle’s forward forays. He left the field to rapturous applause in the second half after taking one too many meaty challenges from his international teammate Ivanovic.
The 21-year-old Serb’s arrival for a fee of £13 million (Dh72.4m) from Anderlecht in the summer raised plenty of eyebrows, not least because of a poor disciplinary record that has seen him booked 47 times and sent off six times in his career. He has already been shown one red card this season for a horror challenge on Arsenal’s Francis Coquelin.
One performance doesn’t paper over the cracks, and there is still plenty of cause for concern for McClaren’s side, but Mitrovic’s guts, guile and gumption are exactly what a struggling team like Newcastle need. Goals too. And as long as the young Serb can keep his cool the latter will hopefully follow.
Time for a rethink at Leicester
So far this season Claudio Ranieri’s Leciester City have been the great entertainers. In seven Premier League games Leicester have scored 15 and conceded 14, including five in Saturday’s defeat to Arsenal at home.
While goals galore is always fun perhaps Ranieri will do well to get his charges on the training ground and pitch to them a philosophy that his Italian forebearers built their whole approach on: don’t concede, it makes it much easier to win.
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