Eddie Howe gives honest assessment of powerful £15m forward after Wimbledon win

Newcastle United progressed into the next round of the Carabao Cup at the expense of League Two Wimbledon on Tuesday night.

At a flat St James’ Park, Newcastle dominated possession and passed the ball around with relative ease as AFC Wimbledon kept every man between the ball and the goal pretty. much at all times making life very difficult for Eddie Howe’s much-changed XI.

The Newcastle boss made eight changes to the lineup that impressed against Manchester City at the weekend and in a very real way, it showed,

The whole match had a feel of a training/pre-season friendly game with very little urgency displayed throughout.

Will Osula made his full Newcastle United debut
Perhaps the most notable of the changes was that £15 million summer signing Will Osula made his full debut. The 21-year-old has previously been reduced to an Anthony-Gordon-At-Euro2024-esque cameo so fans were keen to see what the Denmark U21 international could do.

The hulking forward made quite a nuisance of himself, but much like Alexander Isak has been all season, he was very isolated up front and was starved of service.

His off the ball running looked very impressive, he seemed to struggle a bit with the ball at his feet but with three Wimbledon defenders on him at all time, that’s not really surprising.

Eddie Howe was pleased with his debutant’s performance
Speaking after the game Eddie Howe told the media (via The Shields Gazette) that he thought it was a solid debut by the youngster but he’s still got a long way to go before he’s Premier League ready.

“I think he did better in the second half when we were able to give him more of the ball in dangerous areas. The first half was frustrating for him and us that he didn’t get the ball more around their box.

“In the attacking areas you saw his qualities – his pace and power, but he still has a lot of work to do.”

“Time will tell (on whether he will feature regularly in the Premier League) and his performances will dictate that. I think [against Wimbledon] there was some really bright flashes for him. But I think he knows he has areas of his game to work on, like any young player.

“Like I said before the game, we’re working on those with him. It was a performance of promise. He probably could have scored a couple of goals.”