da winzada777： Steve Bruce reverted to his one striker system against Leicester but made the wrong decision to start Joelinton over Andy Carroll, as the Brazilian disappointed once again.
da apostaganha： The 23-year-old has been an underwhelming failure since his £40m arrival in summer and has just one goal to show for his efforts from 21 Premier League games.
His average of 5.1 aerial duels won is the only area where he’s really excelled in any department, and that means he has so far been a waste of money, with fans growing increasingly fed up with his presence in the team.
Unfortunately for the Magpies, his return of 63% pass accuracy and a WhoScored rating of 6.2 against Leicester are not even the worst he has shown this term, as he managed just a 55% pass accuracy against Manchester City and a rating of 5.9 against Norwich.
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As a result, his place in the side should be coming under greater scrutiny and presumably would be if Steve Bruce had better players in reserve. The fact he doesn’t mean additions need to be made.
Newcastle are in a sticky situation currently with several injuries to the defence leaving them in a precarious position just above the relegation zone.
While that is one area of the team that could do with reinforcements, the biggest struggle for Bruce’s side so far has been finding the back of the net, with just 20 goals to show from their 21 league games.
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Andy Carroll has been the manager’s second-choice forward to call upon, but he is far too similar to Joelinton.
An average of 6.3 aerial duels won per game shows that like his teammate he provides an aerial threat without offering much pace or agility, and the opposition has found them both too easy to deal with as a result.
In fact, the same can be said of Newcastle’s other two strikers. Dwight Gayle and Yoshinori Muto have both found game time difficult to come by, though the latter is the only other striker to score this season – with one goal.
Both could find themselves moving on this month, particularly Gayle who has a number of Championship clubs chasing him.
Bruce may be the beneficiary if that occurs, as he will have greater resources available to spend on a new striker. That’s only if Mike Ashley is willing to grant him the money raised from transfer income.
Elsewhere, Newcastle fans have been directing criticism at Steve Bruce after he decided to play Florian Lejeune against Leicester.