‘You Can Pretty Much Guess’ – Ex-Striker Sees Newcastle United Weakness
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Former Premier League striker Dean Ashton thinks the Newcastle United team Eddie Howe picks can largely be predicted game by game and that is not a good thing.
Howe has had a hugely successful spell as Newcastle boss, delivering Champions League football and silverware to the club.
However, he is very much a creature of habit when it comes to team selection and that has left him open to the accusation that teams know what the Magpies will do before games.
Howe has stayed loyal to certain players this season, something which has resulted in the use of Dan Burn, primarily a central defender, in a role as a left-back.
Burn did score for Newcastle in their 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday night, a game in which Malick Thaw’s performance was dubbed ‘flawless’, but Ashton is not sure it is a good thing for Howe’s teams to be so predictable.
Ashton said on talkSPORT (5th November, 19:13): “You pretty much can guess 95 per cent of the team he is going to pick in most of the games.
“I am not sure if that is a good thing.
“Yes, of course, they are good players, and Dan Burn is one of those terrific players, got himself into the English team, now an England international.
“I just think you have got Lewis Hall, a fantastic young talent. I know he has had his injuries, but he can give you a lot more than Dan Burn can going forward.”
Ashton noted that Newcastle have struggled to score goals so far this season and feels that is something which Hall could help with.
“They have struggled for goals.
“He was terrific at the back end of last season, Hall, getting down that left-hand side, giving [Anthony] Gordon or [Harvey] Barnes or whoever it was, that extra player alongside to take defenders away.”
With Newcastle having enjoyed a less than impressive start in the Premier League this season, Richard Keys admitted recently he thinks something is wrong at the club.
Keys also revealed that in his view, Howe may not last beyond this season at St James’ Park.
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