Wanting to believe the worst in people | OneFootball

It isn’t a new thing.

Fans of any club getting on the backs of certain players.

However, I think it has been a growing phenomenon.

These days pretty much nobody is safe, including (especially?) at Newcastle United.

What I think is so different these days, is just how quickly Newcastle United fans can switch, from loving a player to thinking the very worst of them. Opinions even changing because of one game, or even during a single match you can see such a radical shift from one half to the next, one minute to the next…

We have actually even seen it at its very extreme worst, with Eddie Howe.

As fans, it has always been of course an acceptable thing to discuss who should be in the team, what tactics and formation and so on. However, at times, real extremists amongst the Newcastle United fanbase have gone a million miles beyond that, ridiculing and slagging off Eddie Howe with his team selections and formation and tactics, because it is so OBVIOUS that if only he did what these bedroom-based tactical experts advise, then for sure Newcastle United would have won.

If only life was so simple.

No manager will get it right every time but fair to say that Eddie Howe gets it right a lot more than he gets it wrong AND nobody could have done a better job at Newcastle United since he arrived, especially when having to battle against the odds, when it comes to the cost of building the respective squads and the wage bills at rival clubs.

No players, including Newcastle United players, will perform at their best all of the time. They aren’t machines and they will experience form that is variable over the course of one or more seasons. Plus of course, with Newcastle United having a far smaller group of first team contenders than their rivals, we never know whether or not a player has been prepared to play even though carrying a knock/injury that means they are.

Another real extreme has been at times even seeing some fans suggesting it might be best to sell Alexander Isak, when he has missed matches through injury and/or seen his form dip, his goals dry up to an extent.

I don’t think you get anywhere by selling your very best players, nor indeed getting rid of your top quality manager.

No player has been immune from, what I think, has been over the top unfair, often snap, judgements.

Some below par performances and a player isn’t just having a dip in form, he  is instead useless/finished, worst of all for me, accused of not trying. I don’t really understand why anybody would think this of any of our players, considering what they have given us in recent years. As I mentioned, players might be carry knocks, or else they might just play under par for no reason. Surely any of you, like me, who has played any standard of football, will have experienced this. You do everything the same in training, you feel the same ahead of a match, then for no discernible reason it just doesn’t happen on a matchday.

Which brings me to Anthony Gordon.

Newcastle United player of the season for the 2024/25 season.

He has made 62 Premier League starts these past two seasons and had 32 direct goal involvements, averaging just better than one every two PL matches, with 17 goals and 15 assists.

Yet some of the stuff I see and hear about Anthony Gordon I find unbelievable.

One of the maddest things I have seen was one or more Newcastle United fans wanting to believe that Gordon got himself sent off on purpose against Brighton, so that he would miss the Carabao Cup Final. The reasoning being that it was some kind of conspiracy and if he did this to help Liverpool win the final, then it would help make them sign him!

Anthony Gordon had a poor end to last season after that Brighton sending off, as he went away with England and picked up a bad hip injury, then found Harvey Barnes in great form and thus struggled to get a run of games. The end of the season seeing Newcastle United fading a bit and at times the team overall not playing so well at times. Yet to me, Anthony Gordon was singled out far more than was fair. Especially as he didn’t play that many minutes comparatively.

Even last season, Anthony Gordon was in great form for much of it and when Newcastle United were at their best and winning game after game, Anthony Gordon was producing game after game, from the Leicester game in mid-December to the second leg semi-final cup win over Arsenal, Gordon made 13 appearances and scored or got an assist in 11 of the 13.

Indeed, he had a run of nine games where every single match he scored or got an assist AND United won!

That run of Newcastle United matches when Anthony Gordon played, with his direct goal involvements, mid-December 2024 to early February 2025:

Newcastle 4 Leicester 0 – Anthony Gordon assist

Newcastle 3 Brentford 1 – Anthony Gordon assist

Ipswich 0 Newcastle 4 – Anthony Gordon assist

Newcastle 3 Villa 0 – Anthony Gordon goal

Man U 0 Newcastle 2 – Anthony Gordon assist

Spurs 1 Newcastle 2 – Anthony Gordon goal

Arsenal 0 Newcastle 2 – Anthony Gordon goal

Newcastle 3 Bromley 1 – Anthony Gordon goal

Newcastle 3 Wolves 0 – Anthony Gordon goal

Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 4

Southampton 1 Newcastle 3 – Anthony Gordon assist

Newcastle 1 Fulham 2

Newcastle 2 Arsenal 0 – Anthony Gordon goal

A reminder as well that Anthony Gordon was arguably our best and key player when getting to Wembley!

Anthony Gordon deserves our backing and we will be paid back many times by him in return.