Allan Saint-Maximin’s late yellow card in Newcastle United’s 4-0 hammering at Leicester City was a clear sign of frustration from the winger.
With his side experiencing a chastening afternoon, the Frenchman scythed down Patson Daka in the 90th minute.
He received a pat on the back from Leicester’s influential midfielder Youri Tielemans for his troubles, but that wouldn’t have helped the former Nice man’s mood.
After winning our first game of the season last time out against Burnley, it was hoped that we had turned a corner.
Playing against a side who had just been dumped out of the Europa League and hadn’t registered a Premier League clean sheet since the opening weekend of the season, it looked the perfect time to play the vulnerable Foxes.
With Jamie Vardy on the bench and Johnny Evans down clutching his hamstring after a matter of minutes, Eddie Howe would have been forgiven for thinking that everything was falling into place for his team.
Saint-Maximin lacked final product
The 24-year-old displayed his tenacity and batting qualities against Brendan Rodgers’ side by winning 12 of the 19 ground duels he contested.
There is no denying Saint-Maximin’s commitment to the cause, but there are some Newcastle fans concerned by his form.
Nevertheless, the French under-21 international completed nine of his attempted 14 dribbles at the King Power Stadium.
That was the most dribbles completed by any player during the 16th gameweek of the Premier League.
But it wasn’t Saint-Maximin’s best dribbling output of the season. He went one better on the opening weekend of the season against West Ham.
However, a common denominator against Leicester was that Saint-Maximin ran down cul-de-sacs and failed to take advantage of some promising positions.
After an electrifying start to the season, which saw Saint-Maximin register two goals and three assists from the first six games of the campaign, Newcastle’s number 10 has just one goal to his name in the last ten games.
If we are going to survive this season, then Saint-Maximin is going to have to improve his decision making and become more decisive in the crucial moments.
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