Joselu started up front on Saturday, and most fans expected new signing Salomon Rondon to be there from the start.
But the big Venezuelan made his debut in the second half, and the short time he was on the field he looked a powerful player who could hold the ball up well.
Joselu had a good game on Saturday and scored Newcastle’s goal in the 11th minute in the 2-1 defeat.
Yoshinori Muto also made his debut on Saturday in the second half.
We expect both forwards to be starting at Newcastle once they are fully fit and understand their teammates a little better.
Rafa has talked about both players and what they bring to the side, as reported in ChronicleLive today:
“We talk about characteristics of a player and Rondon he is strong, he can keep the ball and link with the others, and at the same time he has more mobility,”
“He can give us this physicality and this kind of player that sometimes we were missing when we were under pressure.”
“He can hold the ball and move forward. Joselu is doing a good job but maybe is not as strong as Rondon. He has clever movements but maybe is not as quick as Muto.”
“If you think about Dwight, he was a player with pace and some good movement – so Muto is someone who can run and also use his pace,”
“He is a worker, and someone like Dwight who can have chances and score goals for us, hopefully.”
“Is he very clinical? We will see because you never know. In Germany he was not scoring 20 goals, but maybe he can come to the Premier League and score goals.”
“He will score goals. How many? I don’t know.”
Muto will be used somewhere in a position behind Rondon in the 4-2-3-1 formation that Rafa uses.
That could be as a number 10 where Perez played last season, or on one of the wing in place of Kenedy or Ritchie.
It would be great if we can get all 3 points at Cardiff City on Saturday,
Comments welcome.
8 comments so far
TomaKaThor
Aug 16, 2018 at 8:53 AM
Comment #1Muto looked very good in his brief cameo, and I hope he gets a bigger role against Cardiff.
Perez sometimes pops up in the right place with a goal now and then, but his play in general is none existent, he is not a number 10 and unfortunately is not good enough to be a regular starter, muto contributed more in his very short appearance than Perez did all game.
RobLeenio
Aug 16, 2018 at 9:00 AM
Comment #2Jail from previous “What’s the point of it all?”
Proper moment of existentialist angst from you buddy. Howay man, chin up – a couple of wins and we’ll all be feeling better. Especially if the new signings start to click.
A few defeats and we’ll all be thinking the same, granted….
Jib
Aug 16, 2018 at 9:01 AM
Comment #3The Chronicle
Aleksandar Mitrovic says NUFC ‘didn’t ever play to my strengths’
as he promises to prove doubters wrong
RobLeenio
Aug 16, 2018 at 9:02 AM
Comment #4Talking of new signings, great to hear the logic behind why these players are an upgrade on what we had before. Nothing that hadn’t been said on here, but coming from someone far more qualified to make that judgement.
RobLeenio
Aug 16, 2018 at 9:08 AM
Comment #5Jib, interesting take on the Barnes appointment in the US, but surely he can still be involved in NUFC even if he’s also involved elsewhere? This is the problem with our management, other than Charnley and Rafa there is nobody full-time dedicated to the club and neither have the authority to push the button on any financial commitment.
Munster Mag
Aug 16, 2018 at 9:11 AM
Comment #6Rob unless rafa had zero competition for our signings, he has done really well as far as I can see. I wanted rondon as soon as he was muted although many slated him. We haven’t had real power up front in ages and he has more pace than he is credited with. We looked more potent this year v spurs as I thought we were abject against them at St James last year but fans blamed the Jon Jo sending off when in reality we were v poor. My only concern is that spurs may have only been performing at 70% on Saturday
Munster Mag
Aug 16, 2018 at 9:44 AM
Comment #7Mooted not muted!
beefman13
Aug 16, 2018 at 10:27 AM
Comment #8Rafa talks in riddles, the Scouse comic Darren Darker has him off to a tee.