What is going on with Dwight Gayle and Steve Bruce / Newcastle United?
Well, only they know and probably won’t tell until well after he’s left the Club which seems, at the age of 31, likely to be in the summer for free!
I don’t get it. I also didn’t get how he wasn’t the man called upon when Callum Wilson limped off last weekend. The way we were on the front foot, playing quick balls into feet and going forward with pace it seemed obvious that he would be the substitute. But, no, it was Big Joe.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Joelinton didn’t put in a shift on the right-side of midfield when our backs were against the wall. Nor am I directly criticising the £40m man who certainly didn’t do a good job in a forward position. More I just thought the game was tailor made for Gayle.
I think if you’d run a poll on who fans would have put on first when Wilson hobbled away, Gayle or Joelinton I think we’d have seen a landslide victory for Dwight, yet it’s becoming a theme that the injury prone former Palace man is the one to barely get a look in.
Gayle has scored 34 goals in 94 league games which is a decent return. However, he’s only got 11 in 62 in the Premiership. But balance that with the way he ended last season. Four goals in eight starts over Project Restart and he got the winner vs West Brom in December.
But, but has barely featured one bit since then, failing to start once and playing just over an hour of football in total across our last 14 games since! Carroll has been preferred to him and I’ve already mentioned Joelinton coming off the bench on Saturday much to more than my surprise.
Bruce always says that he ‘tried to sign him’ and rates him highly, but he’s fit now and the only player that’s a similar profile to Wilson – yet still left on the bench. He must be fed up and with him being out of contract this summer it seems his time may well be up.
It wasn’t long ago (last January if memory serves me right) that West Brom had offered a loan deal with an obligation to buy for £15m if they got promoted (which they did), yet we’ve kept a hold of him, barely played him and now look set to lose him for nothing in a few months time.
He’ll be fed up, with Bruce praising him in front of the press but rarely playing him, and it’s another bid of bad business given what he was worth a year or two ago.
It just feels like an odd situation. Perhaps we should’ve tried to sell him but Bruce decided not to it seems but for what? We need to score goals and of all the players still at the Club he’s got the best record. Surely he deserves better treatment than he’s getting.
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In full agreement Jeff. It is another example of Bruce’s serious lack of reading the game. He baffles me with his tactics, if that is what we are calling them. I have a theory that Joe Linton has something written into his contract that he has to play a given percentage of games. Bring on the take over ASAP.
Haydn Watson(Quote)
Never mind Gayle (although I agree he should of been allowed to remain at West Brom as he is not Prem class), what is Bruce’s issue with Andy Carroll ?? I would love to know how much pitch time Big Andy has had with a recognised winger playing at the same time ? (not a winger playing at full back, which has happened more than once), Andy Carroll is an outlet for a team that is set up on the back foot, his work rate & fitness have been without question this season, an outstanding MOM performance in the cup against Arsenal, where he was the man who chased back & put a challenge in on his own 18 yard line following a Newcastle corner. Carroll is a voice, a leader, a threat, yet he is consistently played with no supply line ? If Bruce would explain what he was trying to do then fair enough, but I see no idea of thought behind any decision, Carroll starts but no wingers start, Carroll comes off winger comes on ?? Bruce is massively out of his depth & needs to be removed.
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