After covering Eddie Howe’s right-back and full-back dilemmas in the first two parts of this series, we move to the welcome selection headache down our left-hand side now Joe Willock and Harvey Barnes are fit again.
Anthony Gordon vs Harvey Barnes
The much-touted resolution to this dilemma is to switch Gordon to the righthand side – something I have (and seemingly Eddie Howe too) been reluctant to champion as it seems to be a round peg in a square hole solution.
Gordon is now England’s starting left winger, he will want to play in his natural position to keep his place. He is still to hit the heights of last season but his run, beating two Wolves defenders before hitting the post last Sunday showed his qualities, and he grabbed us a point against Bournemouth with his goal. He has also proved he is a big game player scoring against all the ‘Top Six’ sides last season.
Barnes has proved himself from the bench on multiple occasions for United, including against Wolves at the weekend. He has a knack for scoring belters too. But Leicester fans often accused him of going missing during games, and he has shown a similar trait in his short time at Newcastle. Statistically, he has seven goals and four assists in just 25 appearances (eight starts) but Gordon has 23 goals + assists in 55 appearances.
If Newcastle had signed a starting right winger in the summer, this isn’t even a selection dilemma – Gordon starts every single time. But in the context of the current squad, the front three of Gordon – Isak – Barnes deserves a chance, but it is far from ideal and risks unsettling either player.
Joelinton vs Joe Willock
Our reborn Brazilian was excellent in adversity during the opening day win against Southampton, dragging the team to three points with has combative pressing, harrying and tackling, ultimately resulting in him scoring the winner. But he has struggled for form since; he was responsible for Bouremouth’s goal by losing possession on the edge of our box, his penalty was saved against Forest, and he was hooked at half time against Wolves as shades of the old Joelinton have reappeared in his game.
Joe Willock endured a difficult last season through injury and has never hit the heights of his initial loan move from Arsenal. Nonetheless, Willock created five chances from the bench against Wolves, following up his electric cameo against Forest in the League Cup. Interestingly, that 15 minutes or so were the most fluid the team has looked all year as we threatened to tear them apart.
Perhaps, there’s even a case for starting a midfield three of Tonali, Bruno, and Willock with the Italian and the former Arsenal man bringing a different dynamic to the side. Perhaps there are too many similarities between Joelinton, Bruno and Tonali that lead to us being too predictable? I’d lean towards starting Willock against Fulham and resting Joelinton.
To be completely fair, I thought we were at our most effective in 2022/23 when Willock and Joelinton rotated on the left wing, highlighted by the performance in the 6-1 against Spurs – but with Gordon and Barnes now in the squad, Big Joe and Little Joe’s time on the wing are numbered.
Eddie Howe has much to ponder this week and I’m sure whatever lineup he picks on Saturday – it will be hotly anticipated and debated.
