‘Absolutely huge’… Micky Gray says Newcastle have really missed two players so far this season

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Newcastle United’s squad has been decimated by injuries this season, but there are some who they have missed more than others according to Mick Gray.

A stat was revealed the other week that showed just how many days had been missed through injury for every Premier League team and low and behold Newcastle were finally top of the table.

Gray appreciates how difficult it has been for Eddie Howe, who is now under a lot of pressure, and on the Premier League All Access podcast, claimed that losing both Nick Pope and Callum Wilson has been a huge blow to Newcastle.

Gray thinks Howe deserves more understanding at Newcastle

Last season was such an incredible year for Newcastle fans who must have felt like they were dreaming for nine months, but reality soon hit in the new campaign and it’s proving difficult to deal with.

Realistically, the squad wasn’t yet up to Champions League standard despite being in the competition and the fact they were still able to compete speaks volumes of the squad’s determination.

Since they exited Europe, however, it’s been negative after negative and injury after injury having lost one of the biggest goal threats in Wilson and one of the best shot-stoppers in the league in Pope.

With Martin Dubravka in goal and Anthony Gordon occasionally having to fill in as striker for Newcastle, Gray thinks that more people need to understand just how difficult these last few months would have been for any manager, not just Howe.

On Pope, Gray said: “I think Nick Pope being out of the starting 11 has been huge, absolutely huge. You could maybe bring Callum Wilson into that conversation as well.”

Newcastle yet to receive positive update on Pope and Wilson

Pope has been missing since he injured his shoulder against Man United at the beginning of December, requiring surgery and missing several months.

There was a previous report suggesting that he could return for the middle of March but, clearly, that hasn’t happened and now it seems like somewhere towards the end of April is a more likely return date.

Wilson’s knock was more recent as the striker injured his pectoral muscle in the 3-2 win against Nottingham Forest and again it was expected that it would take three months for him to recover and so far there has been no news suggesting that could be earlier.

It now looks like the duo will miss out on the chance to represent England once again at this summer’s European Championships, so it’ been a huge blow both for Newcastle and the players on a personal level.