Former Newcastle United forward Malcolm Macdonald has delivered a damning review of the Magpies’ approach to games under Steve Bruce and suggested that Callum Wilson will be regretting moving to St James’ Park.
Bruce brought in Wilson in the summer from Bournemouth for £20m, with the forward choosing to sign for the Magpies despite interest from Aston Villa, per Express and Star. The 28-year-old had been keen to make the move back to the Premier League to help him get back into England contention.
Newcastle approach not helping Callum Wilson and co
Wilson has made a bright start to his career at St James’ Park, scoring four goals in his first six Premier League matches (Sofascore). However, the 28-year-old suffered from a lack of service against Wolves last weekend, managing just 28 touches and failing to have a single attempt on goal (Sofascore).
Despite Newcastle earning a point at Wolves, their performance attracted plenty of criticism, with Chris Sutton describing their approach as “anti-football“. That has seen pressure start to mount on Bruce, whose side have had the joint least amount of attempts on goal so far this season (Premierleague.com).
Writing for Chronicle Live, Macdonald outlined how he thinks Wilson could soon be regretting his decision to move to the Magpies due to the difference in styles between Bruce’s team and the attack-minded Bournemouth side he left in the summer.
He wrote: “I watched Wilson at Wolves and he made run after run without the ball ever coming. He’s rapidly going to get sick of doing that and stop running.
“As an old centre-forward myself I know how demoralising making repeated runs for nowt can become.
“Wilson probably thought he had won the pools when a club with 50,000 fans came in for him. He had been playing in front of the PL’s smallest crowds of 11,000.
“But now I bet he’s wondering if he did the right thing. Bournemouth were always prepared to play and push on which gave a centre-forward a chance.
“How on earth do United think they are going to win games when they don’t have a shot on goal from open play? It’s ridiculous.”
Callum Wilson needs more service having already proven goal scoring potential
Wilson has displayed to Newcastle that, if he gets provided with sufficient service, he will take chances in the final third. The Magpies struggle to create opportunities and Bruce at times sets them up not to lose rather than looking to be expansive. That is the sort of approach which often frustrates supporters who would like to see more from some of the attacking players brought into the club recently.
The 28-year-old needs to keep up his ratio of 0.7 goals per game (Sofascore) if he is going to be able to keep pace with the other forwards chasing England call-ups. At the moment it looks like he is really going to struggle to achieve that ambition with a lack of service at St James’ Park.
In other news, find out what Steve Bruce had to say about the potential involvement for this Newcastle duo here.
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