Following Callum Wilson’s return to the Newcastle starting line-up, Allan Saint-Maximin was back causing havoc on the wing after a period playing as a false number nine.
With the former Bournemouth man back to full fitness, the Frenchman was on the right-wing against Tottenham with Joelinton playing from the left.
The former Nice man was involved in Wilson’s opener after two minutes at St James’ Park, as he played a perfectly weighted pass into Javier Manquillo, whose cross was met by our number nine.
Trailing 2-1 after an electric start, our star duo nearly combined to bring us level as Wilson played a deft little pass towards the stretching Saint-Maximin inside the penalty area, but it was just out of reach for the 24-year-old.
It’s great to have the pair back together causing problems for the opposition, but they desperately need the new owners to make some quality signings in January to significantly bolster the quality around them.
Saint-Maximin ousts Traore
It’s very rare that anyone beats Wolverhampton Wanderers’ speed demon Adama Traore in the dribbling charts, but Saint-Maximin managed that feat on matchday eight following his performance against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
The French Under-21 international completed seven dribbles against Spurs which was one more than the Spaniard Traore (WhoScored).
Traore and Saint-Maximin are out on their own for the number of players they have dribbled past in the Premier League this season.
The former Barcelona youngster has dribbled past 49 players whereas Newcastle’s number 10 has dribbled past 35 (FBREF).
After Traore and Saint-Maximin, in third place and significantly lower than the league’s best two dribblers is Mohamed Salah, who has gone past 21 players.
With the new wealth Newcastle now has, imagine having both Traore and Saint-Maximin lining up on the wings with Wilson through the middle. That would be a frightening prospect.
With Traore no closer to signing a new deal at Wolves and with his current contract expiring in June 2023, Newcastle could tempt Wolves to cash in on their number 37 if the price is right.
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