‘Absolutely horrendous’ – Newcastle fans tear into starter with ‘loser mentality’, want him sold immediately
Eddie Howe has been sent a clear message over one of his biggest names after Newcastle United threw away three points against Marseille.
Harvey Barnes has been tipped for an England call-up, and the winger would have taken another step towards that achievement when opening the scoring inside six minutes on Tuesday, 25 November.
Newcastle were fresh off beating Man City at St James’ Park, but with the Magpies travelling to France, it was almost as if a totally different lineup came out for the second half.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted twice in two minutes, once taking advantage of a Nick Pope mistake, before Marseille held out until the final whistle for their second win of the Champions League campaign.
Newcastle United fans destroy Anthony Gordon
Anthony Gordon returned from injury for the game, news which was greeted by mixed reactions from the supporters, but Howe was happy to throw him into the lineup as a makeshift centre-forward.
That was already baffling enough for the travelling Magpies, with Nick Woltemade on the bench, and one supporter now believes that a summer sale is “looking more and more favourable”.
Of course, Howe has taken some heat for his decision to keep Gordon on the pitch for 72 minutes, but after watching the player’s performance, fans are furious with the former Everton man.
- @MagnificoMags: “Also, this idea that Anthony Gordon is a number 9 needs to end. It’s a fruitless tactic, absolutely woeful. It NEVER works.“
- @SCARFYYYY: “ANTHONY GORDON, YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES.”
- @Charley_VN: “Anthony Gordon offering nothing again. Bottles every challenge, refuses to go in for a header and doesn’t seem to want to run at full pace anymore. No idea why you’d even consider starting him tonight.”
Gordon’s performance by numbers vs Marseille
It is fair to say that, after the opening few minutes, service into Newcastle’s frontline was extremely limited, and that certainly did nothing to help the 24-year-old.
In 72 minutes, Gordon only got one of his three shots on target, created one chance, was dribbled past once, won 33 per cent of his ground duels, and committed just one foul [FotMob].
He has just five goal contributions in his last 26 appearances across all competitions, many of them coming as a late substitute, and supporters are becoming more and more fed up with him.
Howe continues to overlook Anthony Elanga in favour of the out-of-form winger, and benching Woltemade is just another decision that has rubbed fans up the wrong way.