George Caulkin has been speaking on the latest episode of Pod on the Tyne about the intriguing midfield headache facing Eddie Howe at Newcastle United.
The Magpies made a big move in January to bring in joint-record signing Bruno Guimaraes for £40 million, however, after being in three matchday squads, he’s yet to feature for more than two minutes in a game.
Should Guimaraes start this weekend?
Yes!
No!
This is mainly nothing to do with the midfielder himself, however, as the fact that Joelinton, Jonjo Shelvey and Joe Willock have started to form a great relationship in the middle of the pitch has coincided with Newcastle’s recent run of form.
Caulkin can’t see where Guimaraes gets into this Newcastle side with the current options ‘undroppable’.
He said: “I’m sure he’s frustrated, I’m sure he’s bursting to play, so what does he do? Well, let’s hope he raises his game even further in training and pushes people and pushes people.
“There is absolutely no reason to change this midfield at the minute. The only reason that I would change it at the moment is because of injury or fatigue, because they’re all playing their part. I could never foresee myself saying this, but Joelinton is undroppable, Jonjo Shelvey is undroppable.”
TIF Thoughts on Newcastle’s midfield options…
As Caulkin said himself, it would have been madness a few weeks ago to think that none of Newcastle’s midfield options would be seen as undroppable given their dreadful run of form prior to January, however, the arrival of Guimaraes, as well as Howe finally getting his methods across appears to have flicked a switch.
Guimaraes will surely be a big part of Newcastle moving forward, however, there really is no reason why Howe should take out someone who’s performing very well and proved themselves to work well under him for Guimaraes, who’s only recently joined the club.
In other news: Journalist hints at worrying early Newcastle team news