Newcastle United take on Everton tonight and perhaps the biggest sideshow of the season is set to take place as Anthony Gordon makes his return to Goodison Park following his acrimonious split from The Toffees.
The whole thing between Anthony Gordon, Everton and the fans is still raw after the player who became a fan favourite last season turned villain the next.
The Athletic have delved into the ins and outs of the whole deal claiming that both sides could have handled things better, which is true. However, they didn’t and now Gordon is likely to be targeted at Goodison Park tonight.
Will Howe shield Gordon from the hostility or use it as a tool?
Whether Eddie Howe will shield his newest signing from the animosity or whether he thinks he’s strong enough to face the hostility we’ll not know until tonight, but it’s going to be a huge talking point whichever way it unfolds.
Gordon moved to Newcastle for £45million in January after a long pursuit by Howe, but the way the deal unfolded left a bitter taste in Everton mouths as the winger seemingly downed tools in order to force a move. That’s bad enough on its own but it came off the back of him questioning the commitment of his fellow teammates. Then to add insult to injury, Gordon released a statement after the move singling himself out as the reason Everton avoided the drop the season before.
Everton themselves didn’t paint themselves in glory either releasing a 59-word statement announcing his departure with not a single thanks amongst it. The fans were also not exactly innocent in all of this, literally chasing him out of Goodison Park one night, surrounding his car as he left the stadium demanding answers about why the team was underperforming.
The whole thing was a mess, but now he’s at Newcastle and things are starting to look up for the 22-year-old. Still yet to score for the Magpies, he has made some impressive cameos from the bench.
Newcastle staff think they’ve found Gordon’s best position
Newcastle’s coaching staff don’t value their wingers on the amount of goals scored, so his lack of goals right now is not an issue. They understand that Gordon still has plenty to learn and is quite raw, but they praise his physicality, despite him looking skinny, he’s actually quite muscular and knows how to use his strength.
Eddie Howe and his staff are keen not to lose Gordon’s versatility but they believe they’ve identified his best position which is cutting in from the left of the park to support the attack.
Hopefully the whole Gordon of it all doesn’t detract from the job we need to do tonight. That Champions League place is so close we can taste it and we need to keep out heads. Personally, I’d leave Gordon at home for this one. Take the wind out of the Everton sails – without someone to villainise they’ll lose their edge.
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