COMMENT: Has Osula Given Jaissle a Selection Headache — or Solved a Problem?
It's a subject I raised only a week or so ago... is Will Osula actually the type of ST some fans say we need to be looking for? Or, is this true...
Shows lot's of effort... often chases about with little effect... would be better on the wing... misses chances... OK for now but we need somebody better.
Those are just some of the comments that fans not only on the blog but across social media have to say about Will Osula.
And yet...
He's got 15 goals in his last 10 starts for the Toon.
Take his goal against Crystal Palace... his first in only his second start this season.
It was a great cross for Jacob Murphy but it wasn't aimed at Osula, it was a typical Murphy cross begging for someone to get on the end of.
How many times already this season, never mind a boatload last season, have we seen nobody anticipating a cross or breaking their neck to get to the near post?
Too often - and it's one big reason why so many of our attacks come to nowt.
Osula doesn't just put a big effort in outside of the box - challenging for every ball he can get near, muscling in on CB's, and giving our defenders an out ball with his height and pace - but he is the one player we have who also does that in the oppo's box.
His run to the near post and finish on Sunday was a proper strikers goal that Shearer would have been proud of, not a spectacular blast from 25 yards, but a poachers goal and the type that turns half chances into goals and points.
Mind, big Will has also scored a spectacular goal for us.
His length of the pitch run down the wing from his own half, a cut inside that left defenders for dead, and an unstoppable shot past the keeper to give us a late win against Man U was the standout NUFC goal last season.
Watch it below.
At the end of the Palace game Osula got a huge hug from Jaissle who after the game made the point that there is much more to come from the big lad.
Well...
If more to come means he keeps up his recent goals to games tally, or even gets near it, then we've got a proper ST already at SJP.
You really only measure strikers on goals scored and that's why Chris Wood, for example, for all his effort in leading the line while he was here wasn't considered a real success.
With 15 goals in his last 10 starts big Will Osula is a currently a success as a ST for us.
He also gives Jaissle a selection problem.
Having paid a combined £106M for Wissa and Pardo two players who want to play as the main striker, plus another £69M for Woltemade who is currently out on loan, Newcastle have invested big money on players who Osula could leave on the bench or playing in secondary positions.
Regular blog readers won't be surprised to hear that I'm banking on him getter even better the more he plays as the main man up front and Wissa and Pardo may have to settle for playing second fiddle.
If he keeps on scoring he'll save us a mighty packet, and a mighty risk, in the transfer market.
Just ask those who decided to splash out £124M on Wissa and Nick Woltemade.
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