As reported by the Chronicle, Rafa Benitez has spoken out about Yoan Gouffran’s desire to play as a striker.
Gouffran, who did arrive as a forward but has mainly been deployed in midfield for United, came on up-front at the weekend, when Aleksandar Mitrovic was taken off injured.
The Frenchman started the season as one of Newcastle’s best players but has since found that he must rotate his place in the starting line-up with Christian Atsu.
When asked about playing Gouffran through the middle, Benitez said: “He likes to play there, I was talking to him this week about that,”
“It was a different approach with Mitrovic; we had an idea with Mitrovic and Murphy, but with Gouff it was different.
“He had one or two chances, he did well, but in the end for us it meant we had one substitution already and it was hard to manage the physical condition of some players who needed to be changed or substituted to give fresh legs to the team. We couldn’t do that.”
If Gouffran does play as a striker, he could well chip in with some vital goals, as he often does from the left wing.
What striker problem? We’ve got the league’s top scorer.
beatski(Quote)
He was a striker when we bought him from Bordeaux.
Allan Kidd(Quote)