The flawed logic at Newcastle United which has left the club in trouble

No ifs, no buts.

Six goals from 10 games isn’t nearly enough, and Steve Bruce knows it.

“Does the team have goals in it? At the moment, statistics would tell you, arguably not,” said Bruce after yesterday’s 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers at St James’s Park.

For 45 minutes, Newcastle did OK. They moved the ball well and created a handful of chances. They were on top.

Miguel Almiron, in particular, was a threat, and the team deservedly led 1-0 at the break thanks to Jamaal Lascelles’ first goal since January last year.

Could United push on after the break against a team most likely tiring from a Thursday night Europa League tie away to Slovan Bratislava? No, they couldn’t.

Newcastle, instead, looked tired, and Bruce’s side ended up hanging on after Sean Longstaff was sent off.

The biggest issue for Bruce, in my mind, is Joelinton, who has had just three shots on target so far this season. But, for me, it’s less about what he’s done facing goal – and more about what does with his back to goal.

Rafa Benitez’s defensive, counter-attacking system, which has been reluctantly adopted by attack-minded Bruce, relies on having a No9 capable of holding the ball up.

As such, loanee Salomon Rondon was so important to the team last season. Time and again the team could play the ball up to him to relieve the pressure.

Of course, his goals were important – the striker netted 11 times in the 2017/18 season – but his strength and intelligence made the team tick up front. The ball stuck. Nothing much has stuck to Joelinton so far, and Newcastle have come unstuck.

It’s worth looking at the respective deals for Rondon and Joelinton – and the thinking behind them.

United could have signed Rondon on a permanent deal for £16.5million last year, but the club’s hierarchy didn’t believe this was a good deal because of his age – he was 28 at the time – and the striker eventually joined on a season-long loan from West Bromwich Albion. Dwight Gayle went the other way.

There was never any real prospect of Newcastle signing him this summer, when he was offered a lucrative contract by Benitez at Dalian Yifang, his new club.

Instead, the club spent £40million on Joelinton, who was untried in the Premier League. He had also been unwanted by Benitez, who had the final say on transfer until his contract expired at the end of June.

The club’s logic was that that was a good deal as Joelinton was 22 when he signed.

And Mike Ashley, the club’s owner, felt it was such a good deal that he was willing to pay £20million of his own money towards the club-record deal.

“He (Benitez) thought the £40million for Joelinton wasn't worth it – it's too much and the club shouldn't spend it,” said Ashley in the summer. "So (I said) ‘here's the deal – I'll pay £20million of it personally’. And he still didn't sign it off.”

Ashley, we know, likes a gamble. And this, unquestionably, was a big gamble. Joelinton – who scored seven Bundesliga goals last season and was scouted by Steve Nickson, the club’s head of recruitment – isn’t worth £40million right now.

“We’ll have to be patient with him, and try to protect him,” said Bruce. “There’s no doubt he’s a good player. At the moment, he’s finding it tough, but then again, that’s what the Premier League is. It’s tough and uncompromising.”

Joelinton, now 23, cut a lonely figure when he left St James’s Park, on his own, after the Wolves game. The No9 shirt can weigh heavy on a player’s shoulders, and the pressures of leading the line while adjusting to English football are seemingly weighing him down.

Bruce has repeatedly pointed out that Joelinton has played a lot of his football on the left, and that suggests that the Brazilian, talented as he is, isn’t exactly the target man that the team needed this season.

Newcastle spent big the summer before they last went down in the 2015/16 season, but there was a disconnect between the players brought in by then-chief scout Graham Carr, looking for young talent that could be re-sold at a profit, and what then-manager Steve McClaren actually needed at St James’s Park, which was Premier League experience.

A club focused on re-sale values can lose sight of this. Is history repeating itself on Tyneside?

Benitez, during his time at the club, wanted players who could improve the team. He didn’t always get it right – no manager does – but he knew what he needed on the pitch.

There’s seemingly a flawed logic at St James’s Park. Rondon last year, in the view of the hierarchy, was a bad deal at £16.5million, yet Joelinton, 12 months later, is a good deal at £40million. Does this take into account their actual value on the pitch?

Of course, every player needs a period of adjustment, and some players take longer to get used to the pace, intensity and physicality of the Premier League. Joelinton needs time, but Bruce needs goals – and performances – now. Bruce, clearly, needs Andy Carroll, re-signed as a free agent on deadline day, back fit.

The club, of course, also lost Ayoze Perez in the summer. He scored 12 league goals last term, and the £30million got himself up and running with a hat-trick in Leicester City’s stunning 9-0 win over Southampton on Friday night. That’s more goals in one game than United have scored all season.

Newcastle, 17th in the league, aren’t the only team struggling in front of goal this season

But fans are already asking themselves if there are three worse teams.