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Newcastle United: Jamal Lewis criticised for friendly display in Saudi Arabia

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Image for Newcastle United: Jamal Lewis criticised for friendly display in Saudi Arabia

Newcastle United’s Jamal Lewis has been called out for his struggles in the Toon’s thumping friendly win in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

Eddie Howe’s side competed against Al-Hilal for the Diriyah Cup in the home country of their owners and ran out convincing 5-0 winners.

First-team stars Miguel Almiron and Joelinton both scored twice while youngster Dylan Stephenson also netted late on.

But the starting XI gave opportunities to players who have rarely featured this season including Loris Karius, Javier Manquillo and Jamaal Lascelles.

Jamal Lewis, however, who has seen just 51 minutes of action throughout the whole campaign failed to take his chance.

Writing for Newcastle World Jordan Cronin gave him a 5/10 for his display and made the following comment: ‘Lewis seemed to struggle physically in the first half but got better as the evening progressed. Allowed a number of Al-Hilal attacks to come down his side.’

TIF Thoughts on Lewis and Newcastle…

Is Jamal Lewis good enough to play in the Premier League?

Yes

Yes

No

No

There will undoubtedly be rustiness in the Northern Irishman’s game and he is perhaps low on confidence having not played since the beginning of October.

Only five players, four of which are no longer at the club, averaged a lower match rating than the 24-year-old (6.35) last season according to WhoScored.

With Matt Targett arriving at the first chance he had, Howe clearly saw left-back as an area of weakness in his team and he certainly hasn’t fancied Lewis since his arrival.

He has given him just six appearances in all competitions and it’s likely that the former £15m signing could well be on his way out of St. James’ Park sooner rather than later.

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