Eddie Howe ‘wants to see more’ from three Newcastle United players right now Craig Hope says Eddie Howe has been somewhat frustrated by hi...
Eddie Howe ‘wants to see more’ from three Newcastle United players right now
Craig Hope says Eddie Howe has been somewhat frustrated by his Newcastle United midfielders this season.
Until Newcastle United’s win over Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League on Wednesday night, it would be fair to say that they hadn’t clicked in an attacking sense.
While they did beat Bradford City 4-1 in the Carabao Cup, that was followed by a relatively poor performance against Arsenal a few days later.
Hopefully, Newcastle’s 4-0 win over USG is different. Tougher tests will come but they finally put on a convincing attacking performance on a big stage out in Brussels.
On another day, Sandro Tonali would have had a goal to show for his efforts. It was from his shot that Nick Woltemade scored the opener against USG.
Speaking after the game, Hope shared some interesting insight.
Eddie Howe frustrated by his midfield’s lack of goals
The Daily Mail journalist posted a video on YouTube after the game in the Belgian capital.
He revealed that he knew the Newcastle United manager was frustrated that some of his midfielders were not contributing in terms of goals and assists this season.
Joelinton scored a brace against Bradford in the Carabao Cup but, with all due respect to The Bantams, it’s difficult to get too excited about that. Bruno Guimaraes also recorded two assists in that game.
Admittedly, Guimaraes scored against Liverpool and Tonali got an assist against Arsenal but, other than that, it has been thin gruel.
“I know that Eddie is a little bit frustrated with the goal contribution, as much as he spoke about the wingers last night [before the USG game], he wants to see more from the midfielders because he knows they are capable – Joelinton, Bruno and Tonali – of scoring more goals,” he said.
How many goals Newcastle United’s midfielders scored last season
The midfielders in the Newcastle United squad chipped in last season, even though Alexander Isak took the lion’s share of the goals.
In a Premier League context, Joelinton recorded four goals and three assists. Guimaraes struck five times and laid on a further six goals for his teammates. Tonali, meanwhile, got four and two respectively.
Those numbers need to improve, however. Woltemade, as good as he is, is perhaps unlikely to match what Isak did last season over the course of 38 League games. This, after all, is his first season in England.
Howe is right to demand more from his midfielders, as well as his wingers.
Woltemade cannot do it all on his own.
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