OPINION
Christian Atsu has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from Newcastle United fans this season, and during Saturday’s outing against Fulham at St. James’ Park, their frustrations were undoubtedly justified. The Ghanian has been lacklustre at best much of this campaign, and time and time again against the Cottagers he came up short. The quality of Atsu’s delivery is poor at best, and represents a huge wasted opportunity for a side that has a target man of Salomon Rondon’s talent lurking in the box. Against the Londoners the Venezuelan was left isolated for prolonged periods of the match and it was no surprise that Atsu was given the hook with 20 minutes left on the clock. The 26-year-old has seemingly coasted through his career off the back of his reputation as a youngster, and so far this campaign has done very little to justify his continued selection. Should Rafa Benitez recruit in January then the wide man will surely fall out of the side, but with Kenedy and Jacob Murphy both left out on Saturday, it’s baffling as to how he got a nod in the present.
This is Futbol have gathered some of the best tweets below:
https://twitter.com/iHeatz/status/1076510065455255552
No Ayoze is needed, Atsu needs taking off
— dylan (@nufcdylan) December 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/NUFCTOR77/status/1076506082338631680
I support ever player that plays for the club, but how does Christian Atsu get in our starting 11 when Jacob Murphy, who is twice the player, can’t get in the squad? Javier Manquillo the only other I believe cant cut it for us. #NUFC
— James Beedie (@17jamesbeedie) December 22, 2018
Atsu is about the laziest winger I've ever seen play for #NUFC
— AJ (@TheAndylorian) December 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/toontasticly/status/1076511750512656385
https://twitter.com/Jacobrochester4/status/1076512767513903105
https://twitter.com/Gibbo2910/status/1076525935329988608
Atsu, Kenedy, Perez and Ritchie are simply not good enough for the PL, if you want a team to cement a place in this league you cannot have those as your main source of creativity #nufc
— Don Shola (@Angel_Batistuta) December 22, 2018