George Caulkin has been speaking on Pod on the Tyne about how he expects Isaac Hayden to be handed some starts by Eddie Howe at Newcastle United.
Hayden was signed by Newcastle ahead of their last Championship campaign and that saw him become a well-trusted member of the squad as he featured 33 times in the league, and that sort of reliability has followed him into the Premier League with the Magpies.
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However, the £9m-rated midfielder has found appearances a lot more difficult to come by under Howe so far, with the new manager opting for a midfield duo of Jonjo Shelvey and Joe Willock for every match since his arrival, though with some tougher fixtures coming up and a lot of games in quick succession, this could be Hayden’s opportunity to impress.
Caulkin expects to see Hayden in the first team sooner rather than later.
“Eddie Howe will have to be smart with his players. I would expect – having mentioned Isaac Hayden, for example – I would expect him to come into the reckoning for some of the games. Perhaps not necessarily Leicester, but you know, we’re playing Liverpool and the two Manchester teams afterwards, I would think that kind of player would be useful.”
TIF Thoughts on Hayden…
Howe has admitted in an interview that he wishes to bring attacking and entertaining football to Newcastle United and this means that players such as Shelvey and Willock are likely to be preferred to Hayden more often than not given their goal-scoring records in their careers and that the former two are more prominent when it comes to progressing the ball further forward up the pitch (FBRef).
However, the fact that Hayden is a natural defensive midfielder and does not shy away from the dirty side of the game, he ranked second for tackles won last season at the club and that could put him right at the top of the pecking order for when it comes to the games against bigger clubs that Howe may be more likely to accept a point from.
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