Anthony Gordon has taken his game to a completely new level at Newcastle United under Eddie Howe.
The 22-year-old has been completely transformed on Tyneside, having joined the Magpies from Everton almost a year ago.
It was initially difficult for him at Newcastle, but now Anthony Gordon is making a serious impression. He is a fan favourite at St James’ Park, while he has been one of Newcastle’s most decisive players in the final third.
His numbers this season are outstanding. At this moment in time, he has got seven goals and eight assists in all competitions, with his most recent strike coming in the 3-2 defeat to Manchester City.
Gordon is scoring a variety of different goals, while this is actually the most prolific season of his career to date. For all his potential, he struggled to regularly find the net for Everton.
And now he has explained that it was not necessarily down to a lack of coaching. Instead, it was perhaps a lack of maturity on his part.
Anthony Gordon finds old clip ‘annoying’ after Frank Lampard advice
Gordon has been speaking to Rio Ferdinand for TNT Sports. The former Manchester United defender showed him a clip from his Everton days where he was in the wrong position, not showcasing enough spacial awareness to realise he should be getting in the box where he can impact the game.
“That’s actually annoying to watch now,” he said.
“That’s something that managers were going on to me for years. I was at Everton here and I had Frank Lampard, who was an unbelievable goalscorer. He’d give me all the right information to get in them positions. I probably just wasn’t mature enough at that time to take on the advice and go and do it.”
Mentality shift for Anthony Gordon at Newcastle
Frank Lampard gave Gordon the advice that he needed, but the youngster was unable to take it on board.
It now looks like he has been getting the same advice at Newcastle, only this time he is putting it into practice. He gets into dangerous positions regularly, as showcased by his winning goal against Manchester United back in December.
Gordon believes that his maturity is what held him back, but now a mentality shift sees him ranked alongside the best in the Premier League.
He was given the tools to succeed at Everton by Lampard, but it seems like the environment just was not right. Things were very toxic at Goodison Park at the time, and that probably stunted Gordon’s development.
But now he has got everything he needs at Newcastle. He is regularly doing what Lampard used to tell him to do, but it is Eddie Howe who is reaping the rewards.
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