Steve Bruce insisted during the whole of January that he didn’t want to sign another striker for the sake of it – but a few days on and he’s bemoaning his lack of options up top.
After the Norwich game, the NUFC boss admitted that both Joelinton and Almiron are in danger of burning themselves out, with the pair playing just about every minute across January.
Bruce says ‘it would be lovely to be in a position to rotate them’ and wishes he ‘had the luxury of changing things’ in attack. Is he forgetting the fact he had the chance to do this just a few days ago?
Here’s his concerning comments about Joelinton and Almiron’s energy levels:
“Look, with the problems that we’ve had – and I don’t want to highlight it – you can see with Joe in particular and with Almiron over the last two or three weeks, it would be lovely to be in a position where I could rotate them a little bit.”
“They’ve played every minute, practically, of every game and I haven’t got the luxury now of changing anything at that end of the pitch to give us a little bit of a spark.”
I know he set the bar high – which is good to hear to an extent – but it was never going to take much to improve our options up top when Joelinton is struggling badly, Carroll can’t stay fit, Gayle ditto (and he doesn’t fit the system) and Muto – well, he just hasn’t look up to it at this level so far, so can he REALLY be considered an option to lead the line?
Bruce is bemoaning his lack of options up top, but he also rejected the chance to sign Cenk Tosun – who might’ve struggled at Everton but would’ve automatically become one of our best strikers had he signed.
Giroud was clearly targeted and AC Milan’s Piatek heavily linked, but were we ever in with a real chance of getting either?
He’s clearly gambling on the fact Carroll, Gayle and Muto could all be fit for our next Premier League match at Arsenal a week on Sunday, but that trio are injury prone, unreliable and have managed 1 goal between them all season. Let’s be honest, it’s not like we needed to sign a world beater last month to improve our current options – not forgetting the fact a mew arrival may have lifted some of the heavy weight resting on Joelinton’s young shoulders.
Signing a few talented wing-backs and Nabil Bentaleb certainly helps – but it’s not going to solve what’s been our biggest issue all season (scoring goals!) if we continue to set up as we did on Saturday.
Working hard, getting men behind the ball, hoofing it long or passing it to Saint-Maximin and hoping for the best may have worked up until now, but our inability to improve our options up top could be a costly one – especially for a physically and mentally drained Joelinton.
May I suggest to you Mr Bruce that you leave no stone unturned to find another striker that can ease the pain of Toon fans having to watch the embarrassing exploits of Joe Linton every game, its cringeworthy, 40 million ? who on Earth sanctioned that transfer. loan him out FFS. luckily I think with alot of class in other areas we should be ok this season but when you get it wrong you have to hold your hands up and say ok he is not up to the standard yet. I would even try Saint Maximin up front and replace his position with another winger. Try something FFS. Most of us Toon fans have been watching footy for years and it stands out like a sore thumb this one, FFS I think Joselu had more chance of scoring than Joe Linton. No disrespect meant to the lad but he’s not ready for the big league (YET).
Geordie Pete Moore(Quote)
Let’s face facts here, the main target of the January window has been revealed as a midfielder, as usual the recruitment effort was focussed on one player who didn’t want to come and a striker was never considered. Bruce has nothing to do with recruitment so he can’t say anything other than he is happy with his options. He obviously isn’t because he is now saying they are tired and would like to rotate them.
No other club would persevere with a player with Joelinton’s performances and scoring record and unless that is addressed we are going nowhere. He isn’t a centre forward and never will be. Unfortunately Bruce has to put up with what he is provided with. I can just imagine Bruce asking for a striker and being told what for, we’ve just spent £40 million on one so play him!
mactoon(Quote)
Joselu is scoring goals at this time! Ashley has a deal with the club that sold Joelinton to us. For every goal he scores Ashley receives a 1 million credit?? That is why he has to play every game! One down Mike another 39 to go!!
LA Toon(Quote)