Luke Edwards has today written about Andy Carroll in The Telegraph, and as usual when it involves Newcastle United, it isn’t great news.
While Carroll has yet to suffer any setback or reaction following his 8 minute cameo against Brighton, Edwards has highlighted the concerns that the coaching staff still harbour regarding his long term fitness, and has indicated it could still be a matter of months before he can start a game.
As seen below, it’s feared that he won’t be named in Steve Bruce’s starting 11 until the new year:
Of course this shouldn’t be taken as gospel, but it shouldn’t come as any major surprise given Carroll’s injury ravaged career so far.
Also, considering we need a different attacking approach following a toothless start, it is a blow in terms of timing.
It’s over to Bruce to get the balance right and get us scoring goals. Almiron needs a boost and must be actually coached like he was last year, Joelinton needs support and not just long balls, Atsu needs to keep his standards high after a good start (although he let them slip vs Brighton) and Saint Maximin must stay fit – and when he does, Bruce must find a way of letting him attack teams and not hold him back.
This simply serves to highlight the lack of preparation and risk taking that has become rife at the club. They must have known Carroll wouldn’t start many games this year, they knew Gayle had a injury he was struggling to shake off (and still hasn’t) and we knew Muto wasn’t really up to being our number 9 and more of a support player. Yet again we go into the season totally relying on a young striker who’s under huge pressure after costing us big money.
It all sounds too familiar.
If Andy Carroll can come off the bench for up to 20-25 minutes a match and stay fit, we should all take that and not push it.
A big thanks to the boycotters.
It does get noticed … match after match … someone is eventually going to shine a big spotlight on this slug.
#AshleyOut
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