Peter Crouch verdict on Newcastle United | OneFootball

Peter Crouch has been talking about Newcastle United.

The former Liverpool and England striker discussing Eddie Howe and his team now six weeks into the new season.

Newcastle United playing Arsenal.

A 4.30pm kick-off on Sunday afternoon at St James’ Park

Newcastle United set to face the Gunners on their return to Premier League action after a Carabao Cup midweek.

Peter Crouch talking to Paddy Power ahead of Newcastle United playing at home to Arsenal:

‘Newcastle really are missing Alexander Isak. It’s not a hangover from the way he left – that wouldn’t have really affected the players even if it did disrupt Eddie Howe’s plans for the season and upset the club with how he forced his way out.

They’re simply missing his goals.

I like the pace of Anthony Elanga, Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and all the players they’ve got for wide areas but a traditional number nine is what they need.

Even Nick Woltemade, the striker they brought in from Germany, looks like typical focal point physically, but from watching him with the German under-21s, he’s a forward who likes to drop deep into the build-up rather than leading the line.

He has got great feet and can create, so I like him as a player, but that central spot is the big issue as he settles in and Yoane Wissa misses time with a knee problem. William Osula grabbed a couple against Bradford in the cup this week, so maybe that gives some hope.

But the longer they struggle for goals the more people are going to talk about Isak.

Their squad is better equipped to cope with the demands of Europe and the Premier League than it was two years ago.

There’s competition for places in plenty of areas – the main strength is in midfield. Tonali, Guimaraes and getting Joelinton back makes that a really tough midfield to play against. They’ve got a little bit of everything.

Now, comparing them to Liverpool and Sunday’s opponents, Arsenal, I don’t think they have the same depth as those sides have two starting XIs. Newcastle aren’t there yet, but they are stronger now.

For Arsenal, I have to say I think drawing with City last week was a poor result. At home, if you’re going to win the league and you’re playing a Man City team that aren’t in a great place, you have to go and win that.

Obviously City sat back, but Arsenal will be disappointed with their return from the two big games so far – Liverpool away and City at home have seen them pick up just one point.

The manager’s taken a lot of flak this week for that. I know he won’t listen to it, but I do expect Arsenal to be more willing to attack in general, even if going to St James’ Park is not the easiest away day in the world.

With the side Arsenal have, they can scare the life out of teams, whoever they are, and I think they need to be bolder in those games.

And they should be on Sunday, but Newcastle, while they haven’t scored much, they have conceded many goals either, and we know how tough Arsenal are to break down.

If I was to pick a side I’d lean Arsenal to edge it, but I think a draw is the likeliest result, and I could see it finishing 1-1, so under 2.5 goals makes sense to me…

I didn’t have an issue with the midfield in the City game. Declan Rice was always going to come back into the team, I saw Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi in the flesh against Forest and those three together offer plenty going forward with Martin Odegaard out injured.

But I’d have found a place for Eberechi Eze on the left in the team that started against City, so it was a bit strange seeing Leandro Trossard starting instead.

They’ve lost Noni Madueke during the week, possibly for months, and that’s disappointing with how well he started the season, but obviously there’s the bright light of Bukayo Saka returning to ease that blow.

Seeing him and Eze together in the same team is mouth-watering prospect.

I don’t expect many goals on Sunday, even with the attacking talent on show. Anthony Elanga and Harvey Barnes on the Newcastle side are probably the biggest threats, but for Arsenal I always find it difficult to look beyond Saka when he’s fit, and even if he doesn’t score on Sunday, you always fancy him for a shot on target at least.

And Joelinton’s usually a good shout for a foul or a card. He’s back fit again and scored during the week too.

Peter Crouch predictions/tips for Newcastle v Arsenal:

Match Odds: Draw Under 2.5 goals Bukayo Saka to have 1+ shots on target Joelinton to commit 2+ fouls’

My conclusions

I agree with a lot of what Peter Crouch has had to say but not all.

It is far too lazy and indeed misleading, to claim, as so many people are doing, that Newcastle scoring only three goals in five Premier League so far, is all about missing Alexander Isak.

Pretty much any team would be enhanced by a fully fit and firing Alexander Isak but he is yet to score a Premier League goal this season and was anonymous yesterday as Liverpool lost at Palace. If Newcastle United had refused to sell Isak and after the transfer window had returned to training with United, do you think he would have helped change things so far this season at NUFC on the goalscoring front? I think not.

Reality is that two things have seriously diminished Newcastle’s Premier League goalscoring success so far.

The fact that after barely missing a game through injury these past three years at Brentford, Yoane Wissa hasn’t yet played for Newcastle after getting an injury playing for DR Congo, he scored in both of their September internationals before picking up the knee issue.

Then you have Anthony Gordon who has missed more than three and a half of the five Premier League matches so far, due to his red card leaving United having to play with ten men against Liverpool and the subsequent three game suspension.

You then add in Ramsey’s injury and both Woltemade and Elanga are new signings who will improve more and more as they fully integrate.

Newcastle then have the likes of Lewis Hall and Sven Botman now looking fully fit at last at the back.

I think we are seeing a very different Newcastle United now in terms of options, compared to previous Premier League matches. Against Bournemouth, Eddie Howe felt the need to make seven outfield changes as that kicked off only 64 hours after the Barcelona final whistle.

Newcastle United now have great options from the bench and that will only get better when Wissa and Ramsey are available.

Eddie Howe and his team are getting there and the performances have been better than the points accumulated would suggest.