There was a prominent, but expected absence from Newcastle United’s starting lineup for the opening game of the season with Aston Villa, as Alexander Isaac was nowhere to be seen.
Speculation about his future continues to dominate the Magpie headline, but the Eddie Howe man had to focus on the game at hand, keeping the villa in a 0-0 draw from the house.
Anthony Gordon plays the middle as the makeshift No. 9, and the call had its strengths and weaknesses. His pace caused trouble, forcing Ezri Consa to send out a foul, but his lack of presence in front of the goal felt a bit dull to the team.
Until Newcastle can persuade Isaac to return to action or sign an alternative, Howe should provide Will Osla with the opportunity in the middle.
Why is Osula starting?
The 6-foot-4 attacker is a natural center forward who provides Newcastle with a physical presence from the middle of the pitch, and will taste the rest of the midfield and the focus of the attack.
Osla only got off the bench in this draw with Aston Villa, meaning he didn’t have enough time to show what he could do on the pitch.
However, the Danish Giants showed promise in limited game time last season, with two assists in two starts in the FA Cup and two starts in 168 minutes of Premier League action for each SOFASCORE.
Osla was once described as “the poor (Elling) Haaland” by his former teammate Curtis Davis.
But Howe has to mercilessly throw Harvey Burns in order to make it easier to put him in the lineup until the new centre forward can sign.
Why should Harvey Burns be dropped?
The former Leicester City star played on the left thanks to Gordon’s need to play in the center, but will have to drop to play Gordon in a natural role on the left.
Barnes, given a 5/10 player rating by Chronicle Live, never had a scary game, but he wasn’t even an outstanding display that he had to deal with.
The right-footed wideman was unable to register a shot on the target from three attempts and failed to complete the dribble attempted to dribble per sofa score in 90 minutes on the pitch.
vs Aston Villa | Harvey Burns |
|---|---|
Min | 90 |
shot | 3 |
Target shot | 0 |
The dribbling is complete | 0/2 |
Accuracy | 76% |
A big opportunity has been created | 1 |
The duel won | 2/5 |
Statistics via Sofascore | |
As you can see in the table above, Burns created a “big opportunity” on his side, but the rest of his performance was a bit wanted.
Since the start of the 2023/24 campaign, Gordon has scored 21 goals and 16 assists for Newcastle, compared to Burns’ 14 goals and seven assists, per sofa score.
This suggests that it makes sense for Howe to drop Burns more than Gordon. It suggests that Osla’s move to starting XI is promoted as a prefocus.
Therefore, Newcastle head coaches should mercilessly drop Burns, not Gordon, on the bench to play at a natural number of nine until the club is able to bring one.