Alan Shearer is a man we should all listen to when it comes to strikers and Newcastle United so when he singles out Callum Wilson for praise, you know he’s done something worthy.
Newcastle turned this afternoon’s game on its head after half-time. Newcastle, while not poor in the first half, found themselves 1-0 down at the break and looking unlikely to score.
In fact, the Magpies registered no attempts on target in the first 45 minutes. Anthony Gordon hit the side-netting and the post and that was as close as we came. But the second half was a completely different story. Gordon was replaced by Callum Wilson at the break and the game swung into Newcastle’s favour.
Callum Wilson changed the game and brought Isak to life
As full-time neared and Newcastle had turned it around to lead 3-1 thanks to a Callum Wilson brace and a Theo Walcott own goal, a stat was shown that Newcastle had 30 touches in the Southampton box in the second half, compared to none from the visitors.
Newcastle completely shut Southampton out and to be honest, a 3-1 score-line ultimately flattered the visitors. Eddie Howe‘s lads should have had four or five. Technically, they did get four but one was ruled out for a questionable offside decision – it was probably the right call but it took VAR nearly three minutes to make it, therefore it wasn’t a clear and obvious error and the goal should have stood.
At full time Alan Shearer remarked on the difference between the two halves and praised Callum Wilson for the turnaround, tweeting: “Not one shot on target for the Toon in the first half. Down the hill in the second half and on comes @CallumWilson and changes it all. A brilliant performance from him”
It was definitely one of those occasions of a player only playing half the game but still being Player of the Match, a stand-out performance by Wilson and it’s little wonder that Paul Merson once described him as ‘phenomenal‘.
The future with Wilson and Isak is going to be amazing
The link-up between Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson was there for all to see again. When they are both on the pitch at the same time something magical happens. If only it wasn’t so risky playing them both together all the time.
Isak was practically anonymous in the first half, he barely touched the ball, but after the shuffle he became Thierry Henry 2.0 again.
If we bring in another striker this summer, I imagine we’ll see them playing together a lot more next season with Eddie Howe knowing he’s got cover if one gets injured.
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