As you might need heard, there just a few Newcastle United gamers lacking.
Truthful to say, fairly just a few.
Certainly, at Bournemouth on Saturday, Eddie Howe had 11 outfield Newcastle United gamers unavailable, which turned 12 when Miguel Almiron was compelled off on 31 minutes with the most recent damage to hit the squad.
Now you may suppose that 12 (TWELVE) Newcastle United gamers lacking, is sufficient for anyone to simply accept that that is one thing fairly extraordinary, one thing so excessive that solely a idiot would deny it wasn’t an enormous issue on Saturday.
Nonetheless, apparently not.
Numerous pundits, journalists, rival followers and sure, bizarrely, even a few of our personal Newcastle supporters, saying it’s no excuse, all people has an damage listing, NUFC nothing particular on this respect.
I discover all of it very unusual for these characters to not merely settle for that Eddie Howe and his group / squad had been massively up towards it… BUT I occur to have one thing that may measure simply how extreme the extent of these lacking had been, each when it comes to numbers and high quality.
Because it occurs, on 17 July 2023, I had an article printed on The Magazine – Newcastle United squad power – First selection gamers and the remainder all individually rated for 2023/24 season
So 4 months in the past I grouped the Newcastle United gamers collectively of their positions / areas of the pitch, ranking all the Newcastle United squad between 1 and 5, in an try and measure the place precisely the strengths had been, plus perhaps extra importantly any weak areas that wanted funding.
So now we will use my July 2023 scores for a totally completely different function, as in, simply how badly was the NUFC squad hit on Saturday…
GOALKEEPERS
Pope (5), Dubravka (4), Darlow (3), Karius (2.5), Gillespie (1.5)
FULL-BACKS
Trippier (5), Burn (4), Targett (4), Manquillo (3), Krafth (3), Dummett (2), Lewis (2), Ashby (1.5)
CENTRAL DEFENDERS
Botman (5), Schar (4.5), Lascelles (3)
MIDFIELDERS
Bruno (5), Joelinton (5), Tonali (5), Longstaff (4.5), Willock (4.5)
WINGERS
Almiron (4.5), Gordon (4), ASM (4), Murphy (3.5), Anderson (3.5), Ritchie (2)
STRIKERS
Isak (5), Wilson (4.5)
So, leaving the goalkeepers to 1 facet, I’ve now marked in daring these Newcastle United gamers who had been unavailable on Saturday, plus I’ve taken out ASM and added Barnes, Livramento and Corridor, these 4 all traded in / out after my unique article…
FULL-BACKS
Trippier (5), Burn (4), Targett (4), Livrament0o (4), Corridor (3.5), Manquillo (3), Krafth (3), Dummett (2)
CENTRAL DEFENDERS
Botman (5), Schar (4.5), Lascelles (3)
MIDFIELDERS
Bruno (5), Joelinton (5), Tonali (5), Longstaff (4.5), Willock (4.5)
WINGERS
Almiron (4.5), Gordon (4), Barnes (4), Murphy (3.5), Anderson (3.5), Ritchie (2)
STRIKERS
Isak (5), Wilson (4.5)
So primarily based on my scores again in July 2023, nearly completely primarily based on what took Newcastle United to prime 4, Champions League qualification and a cup ultimate, this was the way it appeared on Saturday at Bournemouth for Eddie Howe.
Newcastle’s finest defender (Botman) lacking, in addition to the membership’s two finest left-back choices (Burn and Targett.
Nonetheless, it’s once you get into the opposite half of the pitch that you simply actually see simply how excessive it was for Eddie Howe, the positions the place you want the Newcastle United gamers who do essentially the most working, the place you want the choices, each when it comes to high quality and numbers.
But Eddie Howe lacking each of his (high quality) strikers in Isak and Wilson, two of one of the best three midfielders (Tonali and Bruno), while 4 of the 5 finest wing choices additionally unavailable as soon as Almiron went off. In actuality all 5 of one of the best wing / huge choices as Gordon having to play up entrance for a lot of the match. When Almiron went off, he was changed by our very weakest huge / wing possibility in 34 yr outdated Matt Ritchie.
Backside line is that Eddie Howe and NUFC had been massively up towards it to an excessive diploma, particularly once you keep in mind that the higher gamers who had been accessible that play within the attacking half, particularly Gordon, Joelinton, Longstaff and Willock, had all had a severe workload as properly in latest matches.
In case you nonetheless declare that these weren’t completely extraordinary and tough extremes for Eddie Howe to take care of on Saturday, then there actually isn’t any hope for you.
