Newcastle United

Newcastle United: Mark Douglas slams club’s handling of forward position

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Newcastle United journalist Mark Douglas has given his thoughts on the club’s forward situation following their game against Wolves.

Steve Bruce’s men fell to a 2-1 defeat at Molineux with midfielder Jeff Hendrick scoring their only goal on the day in a game where the team struggled for the most part in front of goal, as they could only get away two shots on target (via WhoScored).

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Due to an injury to Newcastle’s main forward and last season’s top scorer in Callum Wilson, the club were forced to play with Allan Saint-Maximin, a winger by nature, up top for the game – this despite having natural centre-forward Dwight Gayle on the bench, although he did come on as a substitute in the second half.

Speaking during the latest edition of the Everything Is Black and White podcast, Douglas slammed the club’s decision-making for putting them in this situation of not sorting out a proper plan when it came to their attacking options:

“We had a conversation at the end of the transfer window about strikers and why they didn’t sign anybody to back up Callum Wilson, and it’s already proving costly. The fact that Dwight Gayle can’t get in the team and they can’t move things around to accommodate Dwight Gayle, I just find absolutely astonishing. But it just kind of shows where we are at the moment.

“Now, either Newcastle think that they have better, or they think that they had enough [strikers], but I just can’t understand that. For me, it just feels like they wilfully sometimes make the kind of mistakes that you just can’t believe.

“It’s like everybody’s telling them one thing and they decide to go another way. You can’t sell Yoshinori Muto, Andy Carroll leaves as well. Where are the goals going to come from? And so it proves.”

TIF Thoughts on Mark Douglas’ comments on Newcastle United and their forwards…

Have you been pleased with Newcastle's performances so far this season?

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Whilst there is something undoubtedly wrong with how Newcastle are set up when it comes to their players available, you could make the argument that they have actually been able to make the best out of what they’ve got.

Newcastle United are joint-10th in the league when it comes to goals scored, a rather respectable accomplishment, so it could just be that their defence – which has conceded the joint-most in the league – has been letting them down.

So whilst things could be better for them if Wilson was available or if they played a natural centre-forward there moving into the future, the main focus should really be towards the other end of the pitch and getting that sorted as soon as possible – something that you’d think Bruce would be good at seeing as he was a rather successful central defender during his playing days.

In other news: ‘I do hold him responsible’ – NUFC presenter slams 30 y/o for his part in weekend defeat

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Freelance sports journalist & broadcaster.