Bellamy not cut out to hack it as a wide boy.

Byline: By Luke Edwards 

He began the season as Newcastle's best player, but what has happened to Craig Bellamy? Luke Edwards reports.

Is it that he doesn't want to play there? Or that he can't play there? Whatever the case may be, Craig Bellamy is clearly struggling to perform as a winger. Having begun the season as United's most dangerous striker, the little forward now looks a pale and disillusioned shadow of his former self.

Bellamy's body language in the defeat to Manchester United ( a fourth domestic defeat in a row and the worst run of domestic results since the 1991/92 season ( appeared to show a player struggling for motivation and momentum.

There was none of his hustle and bustle, no surging runs, no chasing of lost causes, no fancy footwork, there was not even any of his usual verbal sparring with the opposition.

Indeed, Bellamy was so ineffectual in his wide role that he appeared to take it upon himself to leave the position and move inside, perhaps looking for more familiar ground from which to influence the action.

Whether he was instructed to do so by his manager we do not know, but with the Magpies already struggling for width, it was a decision which further cluttered an overcrowded midfield and played to the strengths of the Manchester United back four.

And while Bellamy toiled out of position, Newcastle toiled to create chances, the lack of width at St James's Park so infuriating the St James's Park crowd they chanted the name of Laurent Robert ( a player booed off in the final home game of last season ( with less than a quarter of the game gone.

It is worth pointing out that Robert failed to achieve anything when he did come on and, just like Bellamy, also spent far too much time drifting inside.

That, though, will do little to diminish the argument of those who wish to see Newcastle's one true flair player as an automatic starter, at least at home.

But what of Bellamy, an equally important match winner on his day and once considered the perfect foil for Alan Shearer? For all his insistence that he is happy to play where his manager tells him, Bellamy's recent performances would suggest otherwise.

But who is to blame, the player for failing to make the best of the position or his manager for refusing to play him in his most effective role?

To be fair to Souness, he has the difficult balancing act of trying to accommodate three world class forwards in Bellamy, Shearer and Patrick Kluivert.

He is also the boss and his players, whatever their personal preference, are paid vast sums of money to play for the club, not for themselves.

But to be fair to Bellamy as well, he began the season superbly as a striker, was told he was being pushed out wide as a temporary measure, but has found himself there ever since.

And when Newcastle already possess a potent left winger in Robert, United's second top goal-scorer last season and consistently one of the leading assist makers in the Premiership, should Bellamy, especially at home, be asked to play there?

And when you have the likes of James Milner, Darren Ambrose and even a clearly struggling for match form, Kieron Dyer, to play on the right, there is no wonder Bellamy feels perturbed at his plight.

Souness faces a difficult week ahead of him and there will be other problems he needs to solve aside from what to do with the volatile Welshman.

But when Newcastle travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday, desperate to avoid a humiliating defeat and end the dismal run of results which threatens to dismantle their season, they need the real Craig Bellamy to stand up tall.

It is up to Souness to make sure that he does. The easiest way to do so will be to restore him to a centre-forward's role, but whether United's new manager is willing to do so remains to be seen.