Soccer Football - Carabao Cup - Semi Final - Second Leg - Newcastle United v Southampton - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - January 31, 2023 Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon applauds fans as he is unveiled before the match REUTERS/Scott Heppell EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
John Gibson believes it would be a big game to hand Anthony Gordon his first Newcastle United start this weekend.
The Lowdown: Selection dilemma for Howe
Bruno Guimaraes’ midweek red card has handed Eddie Howe a very interesting selection headache with several players capable of moving to the left-hand side while Joelinton drops into midfield.
Howe obviously has tricky winger Allan Saint-Maximin sitting on the bench in recent weeks, £40 million January signing Gordon who’s trained this week and the ever-regular Jacob Murphy also available.
Gordon has indeed been training with his new teammates this week but with less than a week under his belt to get to know people and understand the tactics, it would be bizarre to see him starting against West Ham.
The Latest: Howe must be sensible
Given how little time Gordon has spent with his new teammates, Gibson has claimed on the Everything is Black and White podcast it would be a big gamble to throw him into the starting lineup.
He said: “There are four choices for Saturday, there’s Saint-Maximin, there’s Isak with a twitch in the tactics, there’s Gordon if you decided to gamble and start him straight away which would never happen if Bruno wasn’t suspended and the other one is the rank outsider which is Murphy.”
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The Verdict: Gordon not ready to start
It would be very uncharacteristic for Howe to throw Gordon straight into the firing line at St James’ Park as that didn’t happen with the likes of Sven Botman and Guimaraes who both had to wait for their chance.
Also, if Howe doesn’t hand Saint-Maximin his first league start since August then that won’t likely go down very well within the Frenchman’s camp and could well show he has no future on Tyneside.
Given the speed Gordon has showcased this season, he could well be a solid option to terrorise West Ham with deep into the second half after having to deal with Saint-Maximin’s willingness to dribble at them as he has done this season with 21 completed dribbles in just four starts (FBRef).
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