Some may have been left a little underwhelmed by Chris Wood’s displays since he completed a £25m move to Newcastle, however the former Burnley striker proved he can do more than just score goals on Saturday.
The Kiwi set a new Premier League record in our 1-0 win over Leeds, with WhoScored.com revealing that his FIFTEEN aerial wins is more than any other top flight player has accumulated in a single game over the 2021/22 season.
This highlights his dominance in the air, with him often flicking long balls on to the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin or Ryan Fraser, not only creating attacks but taking the pressure off our defence in doing so.
Wood also completed more passes (22) than any of his Toon teammates over the weekend, highlighting the solid job he did in holding up the ball when it was on the deck.
He wasn’t one of the standout performers at Elland Road and is clearly still finding his feet in this team, with some not all that impressed by what they’ve seen so far, however he proved on Saturday that he is not only a handful but someone who can do the dirty work up top when he’s not scoring.
Hopefully he can build on
I think it’s also worth his critics remembering that whilst that was his 2nd game for us, his first was played with the ink still drying on his contract. He will have had a week to train with his teammates before the Leeds game so will be far from developing understandings with those playing off him.
He also strikes me as a quite lad, just wanting to play football & avoid media hype & limelights – so I expect all the media attention of his signing would have unsettled him a bit as well.
If we can sign Lingard & Alli to run off him as well as ASM, it could be fun to watch I reckon.
Sharpy17(Quote)