HAVING already suffered 2-1 defeats to Tottenham and Chelsea this season, Newcastle United find themselves in the Premier League’s bottom three after another 2-1 reverse at Manchester City.

Goals from Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker sandwiched a counter-attack effort from DeAndre Yedlin – what were the main talking points to emerge from the Magpies’ trip to the Etihad?


FORGET MITROVIC – RONDON HAS PLENTY TO OFFER

Aleksandar Mitrovic’s explosive start to the season has led some to question the wisdom of Rafael Benitez’s decision to sell the Serbian striker to Fulham. Dwight Gayle also got in on the act at the weekend, scoring both of West Brom’s goals in their win over Stoke.

Benitez was adamant he wanted Salomon Rondon ahead of both centre-forwards, and for all that Newcastle spent most of Saturday’s game on the back foot, the Venezuelan did enough to highlight why his new manager rates him so highly.

Rondon held the ball up superbly despite often being outnumbered three-to-one, and set up Yedlin’s equalising goal with a perfectly-weighted pass. In games when Newcastle enjoy more possession, he should provide a potent attacking threat.


SHELVEY IS A BIG MISS

Newcastle’s players didn’t see much of the ball at the weekend, but when they did find themselves in possession, they squandered it with frustrating regularity.

Ki Sung-yueng played in place of the injured Jonjo Shelvey, but the South Korean does not boast anything like the creativity of the player he was replacing.

Had Shelvey been in the side, Newcastle might have been able to relieve pressure with some long balls over the top of the Manchester City defence. As it was, they repeatedly struggled to clear their lines, and Benitez will desperately be hoping Shelvey is fit to return when Arsenal visit St James’ Park after the international break.


BENITEZ’S TACTICS ARE HERE TO STAY

Newcastle’s manager is way too experienced to worry about what others are saying about his tactics, so while a succession of television pundits might have bemoaned his negative attitude against Chelsea, he was never going to throw caution to the wind against Manchester City.

Sure enough, Newcastle started with five at the back, with Ki and Mo Diame rarely straying too far upfield. Negative or realistic? With some justification, Benitez will claim his approach is the latter.

Huddersfield adopted a much more open set-up when they visited the Etihad at the start of the season, and conceded six goals. Goal difference could be a factor come the end of the campaign, and Benitez has successfully prevented Newcastle from shipping a hatful of goals against Tottenham, Chelsea or Manchester City.


KENEDY CONTINUES TO BE A CONUNDRUM

Kenedy has hardly hit the ground running this season. A dreadful performance at Cardiff culminated in a costly penalty miss, and the Brazilian produced another wretched display as Newcastle lost at Nottingham Forest last week.

He was marginally better at the weekend, teeing up Rondon in the move that culminated in Yedlin’s goal, but was still a largely peripheral figure before he was replaced at the start of the second half.

That was an enforced change, with Kenedy having complained of a debilitating headache during the interval, but Benitez will be hoping he starts rediscovering his form from the second half of last season sooner rather than later.


MAHREZ LOOKS OFF THE PACE FOR CITY

Manchester City are clearly going to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. Pep Guardiola’s side remain unbeaten, but hat is not to say that everything in the garden is rosy.

Riyad Mahrez was City’s big summer signing, arriving from Leicester for £60m, but the winger has looked off the pace so far, and there were grumblings of discontent as he delivered another underwhelming performance against Newcastle.

At Leicester, he could use his pace to stretch opponents, but at Manchester City, he finds himself having to try to pick his way through a massed defence. That is not really his game.