I regularly hear the word ‘athleticism’ used when the Eddie Howe Newcastle United tactical approach comes up in conversations.
Howe likes his team to play with high intensity and therefore there isn’t the necessity for a playmaker (Number 10).
But is it a good thing when an obvious athletic footballer doesn’t possess much skill or awareness?
Anthony Elanga was signed by Eddie Howe for a considerable fee, northwards of £50m I believe. We were told he was the manager’s choice.
I believe that Elanga could turn out to be one of the most expensive flops we have ever seen at St James’ Park.
He treats a football like a hot potato and cannot pass it on quick enough, constantly passing the ball backwards and sideways. He never shows any inclination to turn, take on or beat a man, or even find space for teammates to possibly exploit.
I laughed the other day when one of my mates referred to him as Barry Chuckle. He said that when Trippier and Elanga combine, it is like the Chuckle Brothers catchphrase of ” From me to you, to me, to you.”
For many weeks now I have sensed that some United players are frustrated with Elanga, don’t trust him and would rather leave him out of the playing equation when we have possession.
When a player is lacking in confidence, they often do a lot of pointing to where the ball and other players should be. Another mediocre former Newcastle United player Steven Taylor was a renowned “Pointer” and Elanga is in the same category.
I have done a lot of thinking as to who we should be moving on this summer, with or without Eddie Howe at the helm.
I think Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon should be sold when any bidder meets our price. I would also not be averse to selling our injury prone full-back Tino Livramento if a stupid offer comes in.
That would put well over £200m in the coffers, which Newcastle United could then invest in hungry and talented young players who may treat our club as something more than a mere stepping stone. We could also kiss ta-ra to the worry of PSR/SCR for a while.
And we would also be able to take a hit on Elanga if there are any takers, because he is never going to be good enough, if we have serious aspirations of being a top EPL club. The same applies to Yoane Wissa who hasn’t featured as much.
I would like to thank readers of The Mag for the comments sent after my first ever article (‘I decided to wait until my anger subsided…’) on The Mag last week. Just to clear one thing up, the reason that I use Jnr in my name is because I am the son of Big Colin Watson of North Shields who passed away in 2019. I got married, left Shields and now live in Middlesbrough, but my Dad was a larger than life character, who regularly caught the attention of Sky cameramen etc whilst on the terraces. I was very proud of the old man, who gave me a sound grounding on what it meant to be a Geordie, and also the fundamentals of football, what they entailed, and how the game should be played.
No matter how athletic a player may be, it’s the skilful players who make things happen, the ones who have always put backsides on seats.