No club needs a player more than Newcastle United need Saint Maximin
Posted on January 20th, 2021 | 2 Comments |
It’s no secret that Newcastle United are on a poor run of form, and many fans think that the main reason is the defensive style of Steve Bruce. Whatever the merits or otherwise of Steve Bruce’s method though, there is one thing Newcastle United have been missing since November which has had a bigger effect than anything else, Allan St Maximin and his marauding runs down the flank.
Before I continue though, I think that a little evidence is in order. In the table below, games where St.Maximin has started is compared with games where he was out, or only played a few minutes as a sub at the end of games. The data is taken from the beginning of last season when St.Maximin joined the club. As you can see below, as far as performances with him and performances without him are concerned, the difference is stunning, and a little scary.
Newcastle United with and without Allan St. Maximin.
With St Maximin | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P | W | D | L | GD | GPG | Win% |
31 | 13 | 7 | 11 | -3 | 1.2 | 42% |
Without St Maximin | ||||||
P | W | D | L | GD | GPG | Win% |
25 | 3 | 8 | 14 | -29 | 0.7 | 12% |
But why is the difference so great? Because St Maximin carries the ball to the front in a way that no-one else can seem to manage in the current side. Without him there isn’t enough connection between the lines, leaving the front stranded. Although we don’t score prodigiously even when he does start, Newcastle’s form starts to look distinctly ‘Carveresque’ when he doesn’t. Actually, John Carver’s 15% win percentage as Newcastle manager was actually slightly better than the current side’s without St Maximin, which, as you can see above, is only 12%. Unlike here, that would lead to almost certain relegation.
Of course, it’s great to have a player in the side who can have such an influence on games, but of course it isn’t so great to be so reliant on one player, a player whose injury record isn’t exactly great so far too. Winning less than one out of every eight games, as the Magpies do without St.Maximin, Newcastle United would almost certainly be relegated. Whilst he should be back fairly soon now he has recovered from CoVid-19 and is back in training, the extreme dependence and lack of flexibilty will remain.
Looks like the natives are not only restless but fuming @the way this club has been run by our owner.
It appears the series of managers (excluding Benitez) whom even he could do little with the funds available, guess our owner has his eye on acquiring more box stores for his expanding cheap rag trade business.
But to offer ten million quid is an impossibility to any manager and I have to say I’m surprised we are not a regular second tier club , though we have barely escaped relegation a number of times and will struggle as long as both owner and manager are still in place.
One must remember it’s not like a club can pick up decent players for under ten million as in previous seasons.
Unfortunately no one is interested in moving to Newcastle, it has reputation as being a joke, that only hires the cheapest (god only knows why we went out and bought our only decent player St.Max.) who is going to be the next big sale, strange he did that once before and did well, bringing in some very good French and Dutchmen , face it Ashley has tried a number of different courses
but has avoided going after decent players since.
I just don’t get it ?
Sure I understand it takes big bucks to run a Premiership side, so why get involved in the first place, if we are to believe Ashley, who presents the story that it’s impossible to run a club with only two billion behind you, that’s close to the truth but there are clubs with-out that kinda money and few clubs fill their stadium for each home game, as NUFC do, ensuring the necessary dosh to provide for decent players, which in fact I assume every penny goes to-wards the Ashley dream of becoming a major department store owner.
But any future for this club is looking poor these days and unless we can remove ourselves from this leach-like owner, boycott being the most effective weapon, it’s going to add another great NE
club on a permanent trip to the lower divisions, alongside Sunderland and Boro.
Thats of course if the fans sit on their hands and do nothing it will happen quicker.
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