IT is often said that, as a club, Newcastle United have a special relationship with the number nine. Clearly, that relationship extends to records as well as shirt numbers.

Having won nine games in a row in all competitions for only the second time in their history, the Magpies were ready to rewrite the record books when Blackburn Rovers travelled to Tyneside at the weekend. For the second time in their history, however, a tenth straight success proved elusive.

Back in 1994, it was a 1-1 draw with Liverpool that ruined the sequence; this time around, it was a 1-0 home defeat to unheralded opposition that bore more than a passing resemblance to the 1992 reverse to Grimsby Town that ended Kevin Keegan’s side’s record-breaking run of league wins. For Jim Dobbin more than two decades ago, read Charlie Mulgrew on Saturday afternoon.

Rafael Benitez spent last week visiting some well-known North-East landmarks in an attempt to get a better understanding of what it means to be the manager of Magpies – this was a game that taught him all he needs to know. Forget Durham Cathedral and the Angel of the North, making life difficult is an integral part of Newcastle United’s DNA.

The key question now is whether Saturday’s setback was merely the kind of blip that is to be expected in a 46-game league campaign or evidence of a more deep-rooted problem that could yet have a major impact on the club’s attempts to win promotion.

It is probably a bit of both, although Benitez’s decision to change six of the players that had started the previous game against Leeds was undoubtedly a contributory factor.

Having rotated his squad so effectively in the opening three-and-a-half months of the season, it would be unfair to be too harsh on Benitez now, particularly as Newcastle are heading to Hull City tomorrow for an EFL Cup quarter-final that is of huge significance given the lack of any kind of cup success for almost half-a-century.

However, even the Spaniard was forced to concede that his weekend changes did not work, and for all the talk of the Magpies boasting the deepest squad in the Football League, some members of the ‘second string’ still have major questions to answer.

Chancel Mbemba continues to look fragile and error-prone at centre-half, Isaac Hayden’s form has dipped markedly since the start of the season, Christian Atsu plays in patches then goes missing for long spells, and Aleksandar Mitrovic can be infuriatingly immobile and ineffective when things are not going his way. Put them all in the team at the same time, and perhaps you are asking for trouble.

“Obviously if you change players then people will say, ‘Oh, you are just thinking about the cup’, said Benitez. “No, I was thinking about winning against Blackburn and then to approach the other game with the same mentality.

"We had been changing players, and for this game we were doing the same. We didn’t show the character and quality we normally show though.

“I think for some games we maybe made seven changes, so it’s not that you make too much. Some of them we had to do it, some of them last week were coming back from international duty and didn’t play so they were fresh and could play.

“So I don’t think it has been negative in terms of the way that we are playing, but we will see. We will have fresh legs for the next one, but maybe some of them will play again anyway.”

If it wasn’t the team selection that was wrong, perhaps the defeat highlighted a defect in Newcastle’s play that is particularly prevalent when they play at home.

Three of Newcastle’s four defeats this season have come at St James’, and Benitez’s side have actually lost a third of their home league matches. A coincidence? Probably not, as sides appear to have worked out that if they are organised, energetic and capable of attacking on the break, they have a chance of nicking something when they travel to Tyneside.

On their travels, Newcastle’s attackers generally have plenty of space to exploit as opponents feel compelled to take them on. At home, they are often much more closely shackled, and if there is one thing missing from this Magpies side, it is a genuinely creative number ten.

Against a Blackburn side who were dropping deep and looking to press at every opportunity, Newcastle’s lack of creativity was glaringly apparent. Ayoze Perez offered nothing in the number ten role, and with Mitrovic showing no interest in running the channels to pull defenders out of position, the Magpies’ attacking was both predictable and easy to negate. It says much that Blackburn goalkeeper Jason Steele was not forced to make his first save until the 69th minute.

“I’m really pleased with what the team has been doing the whole season, but sometimes we have to manage these difficult games in another way,” said Benitez. “We’ve done that in some of the games, but against Blackburn we didn’t have the personality or character to do what we have to do.

“We have to manage these games better, manage the anxiety better. Everybody was expecting that we could win easily, but we knew it would be a tough game. We said this before because they were doing well in their recent games, and that was the reality.”

A sluggish start meant the first half was a complete non-event from a Newcastle perspective, but the hosts should have claimed the lead when Matt Ritchie side-footed Paul Dummett’s cross over the bar shortly before the hour mark.

Steele’s first save saw him push Jonjo Shelvey’s volley around the post, and the former Middlesbrough trainee made an even better stop shortly after as he smothered Ciaran Clark’s close-range effort.

Blackburn would have claimed the lead as early as the fifth minute had Karl Darlow not tipped Danny Graham’s header over the crossbar, and for all that their main priority was defending, the visitors always carried an attacking threat.

That threat materialised with 15 minutes left, with Liam Feeney crossing from the left after a short-corner routine, and the impressive Mulgrew swivelling to hook home a first-time volley.

Newcastle came close to grabbing an equaliser in stoppage time, but substitute Dwight Gayle shot wastefully over the bar after Ritchie crossed from the right.