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Newcastle United fans will surely be losing their patience with Eddie Howe now.
Of course, the 48-year-old does have plenty of credit in the bank having turned the Toon into regular Champions League competitors during his tenure, on top of winning the EFL Cup last season, to finally lift some rare silverware at St James’ Park.
But, he will know that his side’s 1-0 defeat in the Tyne-Wear Derby will have seriously angered the Tyneside masses watching on, with Howe branding the slim loss as a “very painful” one to stomach.
Despite being in charge of the Magpies for nearly five years now, he will know that he is not above the sack. Still, the blame also needs to fall at the feet of his players, with Anthony Elanga woeful from start to finish at the Stadium of Light.
Elanga’s performance in numbers vs Sunderland
Eyebrows would have been raised pre-match when the Toon lineup was announced, with the £55m signing preferred to Harvey Barnes on the left channel.
Indeed, heading into this nail-biting clash, Elanga only had two assists to shout about donning Newcastle black and white, with zero goals also coming his way from 23 matches. He would have hoped for a swift change of narrative against Regis Le Bris’ pumped-up men.
Unfortunately for the low-on-confidence attacker, that wouldn’t be forthcoming, with Elanga trudging off after just 59 minutes of action having failed to amass a single shot or successful dribble, as Sunderland defender Reinildo had him in his back pocket.
At the full-time whistle, journalist Craig Hope would brand the move to bring in the lackluster Swede into the starting XI as a “mistake”. That is perhaps an understatement.
To pile all the blame on Elanga for Newcastle’s attacking woes would be cruel, though, with Nick Woltemade’s own goal ultimately the sickener that handed the hosts all three points.
There was also another attacker who arguably offered even less than the ex-Nottingham Forest speedster.
Newcastle star “offered less” than Elanga
As far as Tyne-Wear Derbies go, this one will not be fondly remembered by Newcastle in years to come.
Anthony Gordonin particular, will not want to dwell on the 1-0 defeat for long, with the former Everton attacker’s poor season in the Premier League summed up by his no-show display on Wearside.
Gordon vs Sunderland | |
|---|---|
Minutes played | 59 |
Goals scored | 0 |
Assists | 0 |
Touches | 22 |
Shots | 0 |
Accurate passes | 7/12 (58%) |
Accurate dribbles | 2/3 |
Stats by Sofascore | |
You would think that Gordon would be well accustomed to the pressures of playing in such a fierce and intense match-up, having been exposed to the Merseyside Derby with the Toffees. On top of that, he would feature when the two rivals faced each other in 2024 in the FA Cup.
Yet, as is clear when analyzing the numbers, he was entirely ineffective throughout, with Gordon actually managing fewer accurate passes and touches of the ball than his direct counterpart on the right wing, registering just 13 accurate passes and 22 touches.
Consequently, as journalist Jordan Cronin put it, the away side had “no creative spark” in a game crying out for some quality, with one Toon content creator chiming in to say that Gordon “offered even less” than Elanga across the 1-0 loss, which is backed up by some of the numbers.
Newcastle must view the moment where Gordon was being talked up for a mega-money switch to Liverpool as a sliding doors situation, with the Liverpool-born forward now nowhere near a £100m valuationas lifeless performances such as the one offered up at the Stadium of Light become all too regular.
With seven goals in the Champions League this season, though, away from only mustering up two strikes in the bread and butter of the league, a team could potentially be prepared to gamble on Gordon’s services, with Howe – who looked broken after the narrow Tyne-Wear Derby defeat – surely tempted to cash in on his hot-and-cold attacker, if a move opens up.
The former AFC Bournemouth manager won’t be able to survive in the St James’ Park hot-seat for much longer if more poor team performances like this one are served up, with Elanga and Gordon surely two figures who will be out of his starting XI when Fulham come to town on Wednesday night.
