Joleon Lescott blown away by Newcastle star’s ‘footballing IQ’

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Newcastle United had to improvise against Manchester City on Saturday.

Indeed, with injury problems already mounting, Newcastle went into the game without an orthodox central striker – which is hardly ideal preparation for a visit from the Premier League champions.

Still, despite missing both Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak, Eddie Howe’s side managed a 1-1 draw and more importantly, they put in an impressive performance.

The challenge of course is doing that in a game that perhaps carries less of a high profile. It’s all well good and creating a siege mentality as an underdog but there’s not too many games in which Newcastle can be considered that.

However, Howe does appear to have answered the striker problem at least. Isak will miss the Wimbledon game in the Carabao Cup this week, while Wilson remains injured.

Luckily, the Newcastle United manager was impressed with Anthony Gordon’s display through the middle.

• READ MORE: Who is Anthony Gordon? Age, height, career, position, girlfriend

He wasn’t the only one.

Joleon Lescott says Newcastle star has a very high footballing IQ

Speaking to TNT Sports at 2.45pm BST on 28/09/2024 after the game, former City defender and now pundit Joleon Lescott talked up Gordon’s game intelligence to perform so well as a striker despite it not being his preferred position.

He said: “You also have to have a very high IQ, footballing IQ, to play the two or three positions that he has played this season exceptionally well, all of them, and have that impact. You have to have a high IQ.”

Anthony Gordon could get fresh competition at Newcastle soon

It’s certainly promising to see that Gordon can play as a striker considering the fact Isak and Wilson are not always the most reliable on the fitness front despite their quality.

Still, perhaps Howe can rotate for the game against Wimbledon this week. There is, after all, excitement about the potential of summer signing Will Osula and allowing him the chance to impress looks a wise move.

Gordon can always return to the role against Everton next time out in the Premier League if the Osula experiment does not work out.