‘In defence of Joselu..’ – NUFC fan explains why the out of sorts Spaniard will start again today

“WHY DOES RAFA KEEP PICKING HIM?”

A fan written piece from NUFC fan Daniel Talbot, who defends why Rafa keeps picking Joselu & explains just why he’ll probably start today again at Stamford Bridge today:

Nobody in their right mind would suggest that this guy is going to score 20 goals a season. At times he looks like he couldn’t hit a cow’s a*** with a banjo, never mind the back of the net but Joselu offers Rafa something that better finishers like Gayle or Mitrovic do not.

On Tuesday night against West Brom, Rafa abandoned the disastrous 4-4-2 experiment that had seen Newcastle lose four on the trot and reverted to the 4-2-3-1 that had produced results at the start of the season. Most Newcastle fans would welcome that as a sensible move especially given it produced a spirited away point at the Hawthorn’s.

But many fans will call into question Rafa’s decision to select Joselu to lead the line over better goalscorers such as Gayle and Mitrovic, particularly given the latter’s positive impact when he came on for the last 25 minutes of the game. But I for one back Rafa’s decision to play the £5-million-pound man and I expect to seeing him leading the line once again against Chelsea on Saturday.

Joselu is our best option for precisely those games when we need to focus on defence first and foremost. When we are likely to spend long periods in our own half and supply very little quality ball to our centre forward, we need someone like Joselu who is happy to live on scraps.

Consistently this season, Joselu has held the ball up well in games when we need an out ball, he links up well with Perez and alleviates pressure when we need some respite. He doesn’t get frustrated by his lack of chances in the way that Mitrovic would and he will come short more often than Gayle. He sticks to his task and keeps working and in games where we need someone to hold the ball up and allow the likes of Ritchie and Perez to drive forward and offer the defence some rest, Joselu is the man.

Joselu will allows Rafa to set up defensively and focus on ensuring we are in a game going into the final half hour. Then Rafa can bring in one of our better finishers as we push on and look for three points.

Rafa pointed out before the game at the Hawthornes that in the current market a proven goalscorer will cost £40 million. He didn’t spend £40 million on Joselu, he spent £5 million (Thanks Mike). So Joselu shouldn’t be expected to be the next Shearer, but he has a role to play for Newcastle while we focus on ensuring we are in the Premier League next season. If he helps us achieve that then he deserves the backing of the fans.

By Daniel Talbot

An unpopular opinion, but perhaps a valid one? What do you make of this folks?

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

3 thoughts on “‘In defence of Joselu..’ – NUFC fan explains why the out of sorts Spaniard will start again today

  1. If he keeps playing joselu we’l be relegated, who picks your only CF to defend? Imo Mitro offers more offensively and defensively and the reason Joselu doesn’t score is cause he’ll not work hard enough to get into the box and would rather look good than be affective. Mitro is our only hope and isnt getting a fair chance

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  2. He isn’t “leading the line” today. Nor did he in any of the games he started. Hopefully, Rafa’s seen enough of this useless player to decide he’s not capable of playing in the Prem. Most of us had seen it after 2-3 games.

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