Anyone who watched the match between Newcastle and Bolton at the weekend will have seen one glaringly obvious statistic; Newcastle, despite the lion's share of the possession, did not register a shot on target for the full 90 minutes!

Now we know that's not because we haven't got the personnel to put the ball in the back of the net. Michael Owen's record speaks for itself and Shola Ameobi, while not a fans' favourite, knows where the goal is (anyone remember the hat-trick he scored against Bayern Lederhosen in the Champions League?)

So, given the chance, he'll force goalkeepers to make saves at the very least. The problem is simply the inability to deliver the final ball. Damien Duff played OK on Saturday as did Charles N'Zogbia and James Milner, but I am not convinced the latter two are playing in their best positions - especially Milner who, for me, is not an outright winger.

Newcastle deperately need someone in the team who can carve open defences with one clever pass, much like Robert Lee and Gary Speed have done before. With Joey Barton, the Toon have someone who creates goalscoring chances, but if the match is on a Sunday there's a good chance he won't post bail in time for kick-off.

So who, then, should be given the task of creating chances? I can already hear shouts of  "Ronaldinho, Kaka and Deco" from some over-zealous fans, and as much as I'd like any one of those at Newcastle I don't see it happening any time soon. So why don't we look at the players those guys are keeping out of the team?

Xavi: Regular squad member for Spain but does not play as much as I'm sure he would like to at Barcelona.

Andrea Pirlo: Maybe slightly ambitious but he has Gennaro Gatusso and Kaka ahead of him in the pecking order at Milan.

Joaquin: At Valencia at the moment and first choice in his position - but would create plenty of opportunities from the right-hand side.

The current dearth of creative talent at Newcastle is the fault of no-one but Sam Allardyce, who seemed intent on signing players who worked hard but created little. Alan Smith, Geremi and Barton are all good examples of this. If you asked any of these players to walk barefoot over broken glass for you, they probably would; ask them to create a goal and they'll all look at each other and scratch their heads.

Kevin Keegan has some tough desisions to make - who goes, who stays and who comes in. For me, Geremi, Smith and Barton should not have been signed and should be sold ASAP. None of them strengthen what was already here when they arrived, and I'd trade all three of them for any one of the aforementioned players.

The Geordie faithful now demand creativity and flair and King Kev has the arduous task of delivering it. But I'll bet a pound to a penny that he does.