Murphy offers more than Fraser

Newcastle United's form has seen a steep decline since mid-December with the Club left firmly in the midst of a relegation dogfight. Things need to change quickly and Steve Bruce can't turn a blind eye to the changes fans want him to make. These are the five things I would want Bruce to look into and change before the next fixture.

1 - Jacob Murphy needs to start games, Murphy offers much more to the squad over Ryan Fraser or Joelinton, he has a very good work rate off the ball and can support the strikers with decent crosses. Fraser does not offer much attacking threat and does not offer any defensive cover when the team loses possession of the ball. Fraser would be better used as a sub at the end of games, to use his pace to get the ball into the opposition's half.

2 - Make sure no player slacks off on the pitch for 90 minutes. One of the main reasons the team find themselves in the current position is the lack of effort the players put in to win the ball back. Steve Bruce either needs to use his authority to get players giving their 100% or else change the squad and give chances to the reserve team and academy players who will fight for the cause as the lack of passion showed by the starting lineup for most games this season is unacceptable to the Toon Army.

3 - Give Joelinton a break, fans are tired of seeing Joelinton in the starting lineup for quite some time now, although his recent performances have improved he needs to be given a break and eased into games, he is playing under a lot of pressure and clearly Bruce can't seem to get the best out of him.

4 - Involve Matt Ritchie, the current team lacks players that play with passion and who drive other players to step-up their game, in spite of the recent issues between Ritchie and Bruce, the head coach must do what is best for the team and give players like Ritchie time, he needs have more game time over players like Hendrick who mostly plays side passes throughout most games.

5 - Try different attacking options since Almiron, Saint-Maximin and Wilson are out injured. We have not been lucky with injuries in the past few months and as the club operates on a limited budget, our results are badly affected with injuries to key players. Bruce needs to start trying out different attacking combinations and not start the same players like Joelinton and Fraser, who do not provide any end result. There is no better time to give fringe players game time and get their confidence up before the return of our top three attacking players. This will only help the fight to stay up towards the end of the season.