Callum Wilson had to be content with a place on the bench as Newcastle United kicked-off against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Newcastle have two in-form strikers to choose from in Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak which is great for the club but it does mean that, in the current system played by Eddie Howe one of them will have to make do with a place on the bench.
It’s a part of the game and all players know that, but it clearly still stings when a player finds out they won’t be starting and the £20million former Bournemouth man felt it on Saturday.
Callum Wilson took a lot of positives from the game on Saturday
Speaking on the Footballer’s Football Podcast Callum Wilson said he was disappointed to be on the bench saying: “Was disappointed at first, as you are, first game of the season but all you can do is do your talking on the football field and I added to the goals for the team. Both strikers off the mark, which is fantastic for the club and manager. There was a hell of a lot of positives from the game.”
Given that Isak cost Newcastle £63million just last year and is by far the younger of the two, it does make sense that he’d be first-choice.
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Both strikers are very different too, so from Howe’s perspective it could be more of a case of choosing which striker best suits the style of play to expose the opposition’s defence.
Wilson has backed himself to score from off the bench against Man City
As far as fans are concerned it’s just nice to know that we have a solid option on the bench now. It has been far too long since we had two strikers who we could rely on to actually score.
Michail Antonio tried to wind Wilson up at the end of the podcast saying he’ll be on the bench again to face Manchester City on Saturday to which Wilson said “I’ll still score” – you’ve got to love that confidence.
Wilson scoring off the bench keeps him in Howe’s thoughts for the starting place against City, but I do believe that Howe will stick with Isak as he could cause the City defence real problems. Wilson will no doubt get his chance from the bench so we’ll see what happens.