I keep hearing and reading that there are problems with Newcastle United.
I don’t really get it.
I mean, there are problems and then there are…problems.
What initially scared me was when I read about the ‘problems’ Eddie Howe has with Anthony Gordon and Nick Woltemade.
Namely what is happening now with fines.
Nick Woltemade ‘indicated’ that he would have liked to grab one in Belgium, but Anthony Gordon took them both and didn’t give the keeper a chance with either.
Then four days, with Gordon coming on and a penalty awarded late on against Forest. A cheesy Matz Sels dance routine across his line was ended when the keeper was frozen in time and left statuesque as Woltemade produced the most clinical of unstoppable penalties, taking a couple of short passes and putting it into the top corner.
Apparently this spells trouble for Eddie Howe, who should take next?
Well, I’ve been watching this for a long time and I’ve never slept because I was worried about United having too many confident and clinical penalty takers. My concern is that Newcastle haven’t had anyone willing to take a penalty in the past…
I would suggest that the competition between the two players will simply push them to practice taking penalties even more, in an attempt to convince Eddie Howe to let them take the next one. A win-win all round.
In terms of the problems at Newcastle United, we apparently still have an urgent matter. Which two central defenders should be the first choice?
Thiaw, Schar, Botman and Burn all have players there this season, in the middle of defence, but which two should be seen as first choice?
Like the ‘problem’ of taking punishments, this is something that has only positives, and no ‘problems’, to deal with.
This is a dream for Eddie Howe and the fans, four quality centre-backs and a case can be made for starting them all in the middle of defence. It’s apparently just a three-for-two dilemma at the moment, with Dan Burn at left-back and both Livramento and Hall injured.
But even if everyone is fit, I don’t see this as a problem at all.
I think some Newcastle United fans are still struggling to accept a selection, rather than 11 players who will automatically start if they are available. I think Newcastle now have at least 18 or 19 starting eleven players, including all four centre-backs. So 18 or 19 starting eleven players and if one of them is picked in a particular match I won’t see it as a particular weakness, a big step back.
An excellent article this week from Lewis Jones on The Mag states that Newcastle United now have the best group of centre-backs in the Premier League, and I wouldn’t argue with that. There are some excellent centre-backs at other PL clubs, but four of them???
I think it’s great that Eddie Howe has finally been given the opportunity to grow into a team, instead of relying too much on so few players.
I’m really looking forward to some fans and media people crying when we have Yoane Wissa available, and then hearing ridiculous nonsense about how he or Nick Woltemade got ‘dropped’ for a certain match and how Eddie Howe got it ‘wrong’… again!
You can’t have too many quality options, especially when there are so many games in four different leagues. Long may it continue.
#Problems #Newcastle #United #worry