“I do worry a little bit, the goal situation is a problem. Bringing in Joselu to score goals, Mitrovic comes off the bench every now and then - Dwight Gayle looks the most dangerous when he does play. There’s a moment when they came up and not to say it would have easily happened because strikers are rare but Charlie Austin was sat on the bench at Southampton, doing nothing, not playing, probably not happy and I think it was a real good moment to probe around - do you fancy it Charlie? And it just hasn’t happened. There’s players to go and get but they need goals.
“Defensively, maybe have a look at something as well. Where that would be I’m not so sure but they need to look at a couple of positions to give them a fighting chance. I say it every year - if you don’t score goals, you’re going down. It’s that simple.
“I do think they’ve overachieved. If you go through them individually, he’s got a Championship side there and to have them where they are in the league, or where they were, I know they’ve dropped, is astonishing. Thankfully for them, I know they’ve lost all them games, that’s kind of been their buffer but when I look at the teams down there, around them; it’s going to be very tight.
“The takeover is so important and where I think Benitez has been so absolutely brilliant is to gain the understanding of the fans. The frustration is starting to build, you can see it already starting to build but it’s focused directly around one man - Mike Ashley. But they understand, they’re one of the youngest sides in the Premier League and, in my opinion, individually one of the worst but he’s still got them into a position where they’re fighting for survival.”