OPINION
To be fair to Miguel Almiron, very few Newcastle United players covered themselves in glory against West Ham on Saturday evening.
The Magpies were never at the races, and aside from the ever-bright Salomon Rondon, and the impactful cameo of Mo Diame, nobody in black and white looked capable of preventing Hammers win.
Toon fans will, nonetheless, have been concerned by the anonymity of their record signing at the London Stadium.
Apart from a couple of half chances to get at the hosts’ defence, and some fleeting glimmers of is obvious talent, the Paraguayan was pretty much stifled out of the game by a resolute West Ham display.
And that will worry Newcastle. Evidently, Almiron is only human, and he is going to have his off days, but he was bought with the express belief that he could produce the kind of next level jiggery-pokery that would elevate the Magpies beyond this sort of turgid display.
It’s not fair to expect him to do everything himself, but certainly you would hope that he could do more under the circumstances.
For much of the game he played like a ghost, and while it will probably amount to little more than a blip from a player still adjusting to a new league, the concern will certainly be that teams are already finding ways to suppress the 24-year-old.
This is the first real hiccup in an otherwise bright start to life in England, and it will be interesting to see how Almiron reacts to the setback.