10 Problems Steve McClaren Must Address At Newcastle

6. Work Out How And Why Newcastle Were Top Of Last Season's Injury Table - And Put An End To It

In 2014-15 Newcastle did manage to top the league in one area - but it just so happened to be the Premier League injury table. Physioroom.com revealed that Newcastle United players missed a combined total of 1,871 days through injury - including 1,003 of those down to muscular injuries alone - with 37 separate fitness problems recorded. In fact, in December 2014, Newcastle were suffering from a staggering 12 injuries to their squad. Siem de Jong missed 158 days of the season to injury, while Cheick Tiote, Steven Taylor, Rolando Aarons, Massadio Haidara, Paul Dummett and Papiss Cisse were just some of the other players who sat out large portions of the campaign with fitness problems. However, this is not a new phenomenon at Newcastle. This has been going on for years - with Graeme Souness even shifting his squad to train on the club's Academy pitches in a bid to end the injury crisis back in 2005. McClaren may choose to follow a similar method, or he may bring in new ideas entirely, but there must be an inquest into how and why the Magpies are suffering so many fitness problems - particularly soft-tissue injuries. The ex-Derby County boss needs to be able to call upon a fully-fit squad if the Magpies are to get back to competing in the top-half of the Premier League table - and reach the latter stages of the domestic cups.