Newcastle United were held to a goalless draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday Anthony Gordon (£7.5 million) and Nick Woltemade (£7.2m) dropped midway through the second half.
Here are our Scout Notes from Molineux.
GORDON + WOLTEMADE CLOSED
Newcastle failed to break through the stubborn Wolves defense on Sunday, with a lack of quality in the final third.
Woltemade, who was in the lead Yoane warned (£7.3m) was on the bench, had a few aerial chances in the first half but for the most part lacked conviction and looked devoid of confidence.
With Gordon also ineffective, the pair were hooked in the 66th minute.
Woltemade has now failed to score in each of his last five league matches, while Gordon is goalless in seven.
Toothless in attack, it took Newcastle 85 minutes to register their first shot on target Bruno Guimaraes (£7.2m) tested Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa (£4.2 million). The Brazilian squandered one last chance later in stoppage time, curling his effort wide of the post to end his run of double-digit strikes.
“We had to do more in attack. I expected us to do better and create more. We attacked better the longer the game went on, substitutions helped and some good openings towards the end, but a frustrating day. The expectation was that we had to create and we had to do that better. Too many balls went over the front of their goal with not enough black and white shirts in the penalty area, so that was a disappointment for us.”
“Football is such a strange game. We score four against Leeds and seem to be free to score, attack and create at any time, but today was a different game and we struggled. I don’t think our attacking performance was good enough today. We have to find a way to score more goals along the way.” –Eddie Howe
Six of Newcastle’s eleven away games in the Premier League this season have not resulted in a single goal.
Discussing his squad and the attacking options available, Eddie Howe said:
“We replaced a winger with a winger, they all have different qualities. Whether it’s Harvey Barnes or the two Anths [Gordon and Elanga]Jacob Murphy when he is fit they all have different qualities. You saw Anthony Elanga come by today. I thought he did very well and I was very happy with him. He gives us a completely different threat than someone who plays in that position.
“I think you can say that about Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa. They are two completely different attackers, but they will both be labeled as strikers. So that is the team we have. And I am very proud to manage this group of players.” –Eddie Howe
THIAW NINE-POINT
Newcastle at least recorded a clean sheet, the first time since September.
Malick Thiaw (£5.1m) was given the maximum bonus, partly thanks to a 96% success rate, one key pass, one successful dribble and five clearances.
Above: The leading players for BPS in Wolves v Newcastle
He barely made any progress Lewis Hall (£5.3m) for bonus, which was tackled five times (-5).
However, Hall has now made a return in each of his last four games, with one assist, two clean sheets, two bonus points and two defensive contribution points (DefCon).
Elsewhere, Lewis Miley (£4.5 million) fell to the bank, with Kieran Trippier (£4.9m) is preferred at right-back.
Trippier was solid at Molineux, almost scoring from a free-kick, so it remains to be seen whether Miley will now return to competing in his more natural central midfield position.
He is likely to be needed in both games as Newcastle are set to embark on a tough run of fixtures, with Wednesday’s away trip to PSV Eindhoven followed by Premier League matches against Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City over the next five matchweeks.
THE DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT OF WOLVES
As for Wolves, they are now unbeaten in four Premier League games as they continue to progress under Rob Edwards.
They still have a mountain to climb if they want to avoid relegation, but at least they now have a clear structure.
The defensive improvement is supported by the underlying figures: in the past seven gameweeks, only three teams have had fewer big chances than their twelve.
“Especially from a defensive point of view we have had to become more solid. We are growing and it now looks like we are certainly not giving much away, and that gives us the best chance of being in games to get the points. If we can keep a clean sheet then we know we are in the game. That’s two Premier League clean sheets in a row here at home, and that’s great because that gives us a really good foundation.” – Rob Edwards
Next up: a trip to Manchester City on Saturday.
However, in Gameweek 22 it was mainly a defensive approach, with Wolves’ six shots yielding just 0.29 expected goals (xG).
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