After starting his Newcastle career in the perfect fashion with a goal and assist on his debut against West Ham, Jeff Hendrick’s form has tailed off dramatically in recent weeks.
Despite starting every game in the Premier League bar one (he was dropped to the bench agaisnt Chelsea), the midfielder hasn’t managed a single goal contribution since the opening day.
He’s been similarly disappointing at international level with the Republic of Ireland too, and following his latest howler against Crystal Palace on Friday night, Steve Bruce surely has no choice but to drop him from his starting line-up.
Lining up on the right hand side of midfield in a 4-4-2, Hendrick just looked all at sea, both going forward and tracking back.
As per Sofascore, he lost an incredible 11 of his 12 total duels (92%), made just one tackle and no interceptions, and was dribbled past four times – that last stat being the worst of any Newcastle player on the pitch.
In attack, he was just as anonymous, registering no shots on goal whatsoever, attempting no dribbles, and providing zero key passes. In fact, he made just 18 successful passes on the night.
His performance even saw Newcastle fans take to Twitter to slam the midfielder, with a few even suggesting that they had forgotten he was playing.
Whilst the fact the Magpies won may tempt Bruce into thinking changes to the starting line-up might not be necessary, he surely has to consider dropping Hendrick after this latest shocker.
Whether Allan Saint-Maximin would have played instead of him if he was fit is up for debate given reports that Bruce was set to leave him out of the side anyway.
But if the Frenchman returns to full fitness soon, the Newcastle boss simply has to play him and drop Hendrick.