Newcastle United came close to clinching a much-needed Premier League win on Sunday afternoon when they traveled to Nottingham Forest.
In fact, Harvey Barnes broke the deadlock with 16 minutes left in the game, with Jacob Ramsey finding him in space and beating Mats Sells.
The goal briefly lifted Newcastle to ninth in the league table, with them on the verge of two more wins after a miserable April.
However, Elliott Anderson returned in the 88th minute to score the equalizer, making the final scoreline 1-1 and Forest continuing to climb out of the relegation zone.
Newcastle were left to rue the missed opportunity in the closing stages of the game, with Jacob Murphy contributing little in Nottinghamshire’s attacking areas.
Murphy’s slump vs Forest
The last time Newcastle played at St James’ Park, Murphy managed to pick up an assist in the 3-1 thrashing of Brighton & Hove Albion on Tyneside, but he was back to his indifferent self at the City Ground on Sunday.
His assist against the Seagulls was the 31-year-old’s first goal contribution for the Magpies since mid-March, but he had zero accurate crosses and zero successful dribbles in Vitor Pereira’s away trip, so there was no intention of picking up another goal or assist.
To make matters worse, the Newcastle veteran not only continued to fail to pick out teammates for extra assists, but also failed to get a shot on goal for the Sels. So he had to leave for Burns to show him how Sells does it.
With just two Premier League games remaining in the Magpies’ turbulent season and the 31-year-old failing to pick up another win in a grueling 61-minute encounter on the City Ground turf, it’s certainly time for Howe to let Murphy go.
Murphy’s performance in numbers | |
|---|---|
status | murphy |
Play time (minutes) | 61 |
Number of points scored | 0 |
assist | 0 |
touch | 32 |
shot | 0 |
exact path | 15/21 (71%) |
key pass | 0 |
accurate cross | 0/5 |
dribbling success | 0 |
loss of ownership | 16x |
Surprisingly, while players like Nick Woltemade seemed to be reinvigorated, there was another underachiever who had an equally poor performance, even though No. 23’s poor performance stood out like a sore point in attack.
Newcastle star was just as bad as Murphy
Unlike Murphy, the aforementioned Woltemade was active throughout the game against Forest, racking up two important passes with just 21 touches.
The German showed moments of quality despite having minimal touches on the ball, while William Osula continued to waver on his lines whenever the ball came to him and had multiple chances to hit the crossbar with free-kicks.
In the end, he picked up fewer touches in the Magpies’ net than Nick Pope, with just 25, second only to the former Burnley stopper’s 30.
It’s clear that the Danish striker is not a capable centre-forward in the Premier League at the moment, having won just four of his 11 matches, and while he has had some positive performances this season, scoring five goals, he has often been followed up with highlights like the one against Tricky Trees, and most of his moments have been hasty and imprecise.
He was probably just as bad as Murphy. As much as his wastefulness cost the Toon a valuable win, Murphy’s in and out of the game hurt Newcastle’s chances of securing three points.
With West Ham United coming to St James’ Park for their next Premier League game, it may be time for Howe to return to a setup with Walte Maid as his only striker. Barnes is also likely his choice on the left wing to replace the 31-year-old, who is showing signs of decline.
After all, Tyneside Giants still have a chance to earn a place in Europe after a checkered season, and with that in mind, Howe will have to remove these underperformers from his attacking line-up and are in dire need of a win.
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