ThewolfNewcastle United star Anthony Gordon is keen to fight for the shirt at St James’ Park and wanted to play longer against Girona
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has revealed that Anthony Gordon did not want to come off in the 4-0 rout against Girona.
The England international played just a handful of minutes at the European Championships after being overlooked by Gareth Southgate in Germany. And having missed the final game few games of Newcastle’s season, this was his first outing since May for Newcastle when he picked up an ankle injury in the 3-2 loss at Man United.
But Howe insisted he had to be careful with the forward and with big kick off just around the corner he knows that he will be a big player for Newcastle in the coming weeks.
Howe said: “Yeah that was the plan, play 45 minutes. I thought he looked good today. Of course, he’s behind the other players, he had to have a mental break after the Euros after a very long season for him.
“But today was important. Great to see him score, I thought he played very well and we’ll build his training load up again next week. He feels good, he wanted to play longer tonight so that’s a really good sign. He’s a professional guy, he’s been looking after himself but there is no substitute for training or being with the players so I’m confident he’ll be ready for next week.”
Howe has two or three key decisions to make ahead of Southampton next weekend. But most notably, Howe must decide on three starters in his engine room with Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff – who scored twice against Girona – and young Jamie Miley all pushing.
When asked if he would sleep well with such a big call looming, he quipped: “I’ll sleep well! I have tomorrow to watch. The lads today put down a good marker in terms of their performance and it will be interesting to see how the other lads play.”
Drkeem
Thewolf
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