What's going wrong at Newcastle? Problems for Steve McClaren's men

Newcastle crumpled to a 3-1 home defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday, a result which heaps more pressure on boss Steve McClaren. But what's going wrong?

The loss - Newcastle's seventh in their past 10 Premier League games - leaves them stuck in the relegation zone and, although they have a game in hand on the teams around them, a nine point gap to fifth-bottom Swansea means they are effectively in a battle with Norwich, Sunderland and Aston Villa to avoid a drop into the Championship.

Newcastle's pre-season target was a top eight finish. Instead they are facing relegation.

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Here, we look at five of their problems…

Goal scoring

For a club renowned for their number nines, Newcastle are desperately lacking a goalscorer this season. Only bottom club Aston Villa have scored fewer goals.

Newcastle's top scorer is Georginio Wijnaldum with nine - but four of those strikes came in one game against Norwich. The club's main striker Aleksandar Mitrovic - signed last summer for £13m after impressing in Belgium - has managed just five goals in the Premier League and was dropped to the bench against Bournemouth.

Meanwhile, Ayoze Perez, who has scored six times, has been in and out of the side, with McClaren questioning his consistency, Papiss Cisse is out with injury and Emmanuel Riviere, who has scored just once since his July 2014 arrival, doesn't seem to be the solution.

The Newcastle forwards, though, may point to the fact that the team has created just 232 chances this season - the fourth lowest total in the Premier League.

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Injuries

Every team has injury problems to deal with but Newcastle have been particularly badly hit, with 11 players currently sidelined, according to physioroom.com. That's the second highest total among Premier League clubs.

Fabricio Coloccini, Cheick Tiote and new signing Andros Townsend were all missed against Bournemouth, while McClaren could certainly do with the goalscoring talent of Cisse.

First-choice goalkeeper Tim Krul is another long-term absentee, while Gabriel Obertan and Chancel Mbemba are also among the long list of potential first-teamers in the treatment room.

New signings failing to perform

Wijnaldum, Mitrovic, Mbemba and Florian Thauvin were expensive signings last summer and the board backed McClaren with finances in January, bringing in Henri Saivet, Jonjo Shelvey and Andros Townsend. However, none have had the desired impact so far.

Wijnaldum is perhaps the pick of the summer recruits, showing in flashes what made him an integral part of PSV's Eredivisie title-winning team last season, while Shelvey has contributed three assists since his January arrival from Swansea.

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The problem for McClaren is that not enough of those big-money signings have performed to the standards Newcastle expected on a regular basis. Only Shelvey averages above 7/10 on WhoScored.com's statistically-based ratings system.

Lost support of the fans

The poor results under McClaren - on the back of several seasons of disappointment - have left the St James' Park faithful frustrated and angry with the team's current plight. As a result, Newcastle's home ground is currently an unhappy home for the club's players, according to Paul Merson.

"These fans have to stick with them," the Soccer Saturday pundit said after Newcastle's defeat to Bournemouth.

"After 10-15 minutes, the players went into their shells. They couldn't handle it. Only Shelvey and Daryl Janmaat could. The fans were on their backs. They have to get behind them for the next lot of games.

"I know it's frustrating and they pay a lot of money to go and watch their team but for these games they have to stick with them."

Defeats to bottom-half rivals

McClaren says Newcastle are now in a mini league of four - but results against teams around them has been a major problem this season.

While Newcastle have beaten Tottenham and Liverpool and twice drawn with Manchester United, they have lost to every team in the bottom half at least once this season, with the exception of Norwich.

In fact, Newcastle have won 14 points against teams currently in the top half of the Premier League and managed just 10 against teams 11th or below.

With Sunderland, Norwich and Swansea to play in their next five fixtures, an upturn in form against their fellow strugglers is imperative for Newcastle. 

Watch Leicester v Newcastle live on Sky Sports 1 HD on Monday, March 14, from 7pm