The Athletic's George Caulkin spoke on the Pod on the Tyne podcast and discussed Newcastle's January signing and the impact they've made on the team so far.

Saturday afternoon was another disappointing outing for the Magpies as they were beaten 1-0 at Selhurst Park by Crystal Palace. Worryingly, that means Steve Bruce's team has now tallied four games in a row without a win in the Premier League despite previously looking relatively safe.

Given the situation, times are certainly tough and Caulkin believes that one big problem that might be weighing them down is the fact that their January signings haven't really addressed any issues within the squad.

Here's what he said on the Pod on the Tyne podcast (26/2/2020): "I think the players that they brought in in January, they haven't addressed any of the big issues that were in apart from the fact that they needed cover at left-back. That was a sort of an urgency signing and the other two haven't noticeably improved things. And they haven't answered the questions that were there. The signings haven't improved anything and that is a concern."

Of course, Caulkin is talking about the three loanees that were brought in: Nabil Bentaleb, Danny Rose and Valentino Lazaro and none of them covered themselves in glory against Crystal Palace. After all, Lazaro was at fault for two of Arsenal's goals on his debut a few weeks ago after he lost Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng in the box before being nutmegged by Bukayo Saka and he was then sent off at Selhurst Park.

Bentaleb, who was out of the picture at Schalke before his loan move, has been questioned by John Anderson and Rose, meanwhile, was handed just a 5.95/10 out of rating from WhoScored for his outing in South London.

With that in mind, it's hard to argue against Caulkin right now.

Newcastle fans, what do you think about the club's January signings? Do you agree with Caulkin's verdict? Let us know in the comments below!