Chris Waugh has been speaking on Pod on the Tyne about Newcastle United’s Jamal Lewis and what he does once matches are finished.
Newcastle kicked off life under Eddie Howe with a 3-3 draw last weekend, in a game that saw players such as Fabian Schar and Joe Willock handed a recall to the starting lineup after being left out in the cold by Graeme Jones and Steve Bruce.
Howe is lucky to have players he already knows from his time at Bournemouth in Callum Wilson, Ryan Fraser and Matt Ritchie, with the latter was selected to start at left wing-back ahead of natural full-back Lewis, whos is yet to start a league game this season.
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However, despite his lack of appearances and match sharpness, if he’s called upon by Howe, his fitness will likely not be a concern if what Waugh has seen from him is anything to go by.
Waugh has been describing what he’s seen Lewis doing after matches at St. James’ Park.
He said: “In terms of understanding exactly what Eddie Howe wants in terms of getting him up to speed, that’s going to take a little bit of time. I do see all of the attributes that Jamal Lewis has as being ideal for what Eddie Howe will want down the flank.
“He has an engine, he has the ability to get up and down; I mean, you regularly see after matches when there’s a warm-down, that the fitness coaches [are] there with the players and they’re basically doing sort of shuttle runs across the pitch.
“Jamal Lewis has to have his own individual programme because he’s so far ahead of everyone else because he’s a former cross country runner and he’s like half the length of the pitch ahead of everyone else.”
TIF Thoughts on Jamal Lewis…
The move to Newcastle has not exactly worked out for Lewis, as he was the club’s first-choice left-back when he arrived for £15 million from Norwich City, but was dislodged by Ritchie, who is a winger by trade and has never been able to reclaim his spot back.
Waugh highlighted in a piece he wrote for The Athletic the average positions of the players against Brentford compared to against Brighton, and seeing how high up both wing-backs were, they’re going to need great stamina and energy to do their duties at both ends of the pitch, so Lewis’ natural ability to be a great long-distance runner could help in the long-term battle to start on the left-hand side.
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