Not just Gordon: Howe must bin Newcastle star who “doesn’t look interested”
Eddie Howe will enter 2026 happy that his Newcastle United troops won away at Burnley to end the year on a somewhat positive note, but will also be hoping for more as his hot-and-cold team tackles the New Year head-on.
On another night, Burnley would have taken their chances at Turf Moor and come away with a draw or even a victory, with some much-needed heroics in defence from the Toon saving their skin.
In attack, it also wasn’t the most convincing display, minus a mini flurry of goals within the first seven minutes in Lancashire, as Anthony Gordon fears he will be dropped for the next Premier League clash to come against Crystal Palace, after failing to put in a consistent display again across the full 90 minutes versus the Clarets.
Why Gordon needs to be dropped
It’s clear, when Gordon is at his very best for Newcastle, that he is one of the first names on Howe’s team sheet.
After all, the Liverpool-born forward hasn’t just fluked his Toon tally of 29 goals and 26 assists, with Gordon looking to have turned a corner this season when bagging two league goals early in December.
Before that, he was consistently drawing blanks to the frustration of the Tyneside faithful, but off the back of bagging this penalty in the reverse fixture against Scott Parker’s men, Howe would declare the former Everton man his “best player”, which has now looked to be a premature judgment.
He did pick up an assist at Turf Moor when combining with Joelinton in the very early exchanges, but the 16-time England international would cut a largely disinterested figure throughout, leading to him failing to test Martin Dubravka with a single on-target effort, as he also came up short on seven of his 14 ground duels.
Also noted as having “offered even less” than the heavily scapegoated Anthony Elanga in the Tyne-Wear Derby by one content creator, it will be interesting to see if Howe does persist with his hit-and-miss number ten for the visit of the Eagles, as he endures yet another sticky patch in the attacking areas.
It’s a sad decline, whatever does occur, when you consider Gordon was once being talked up to be on Liverpool’s shopping list for £100m, as another Newcastle stalwart unfortunately starts to fall victim to the same regression taking place with the EFL Cup-winning forward.
Howe must axe star who "doesn't look interested"
Thankfully, it’s not all just doom and gloom at St James’ Park at the moment, with Joelinton’s early effort going down as his first Premier League strike in a year, while Yoane Wissa finally got up and running for the Toon with the second goal of the night.
But, away from both players carrying Newcastle over the line with their instinctive finishing, Sandro Tonali put in another shaky display from the middle of the park, to continue his own ongoing decline.
The hope will be that the Italian is just suffering from a minor blip in form and he can change his fortunes around in the New Year, having turned himself into a “world-class” performer on English shores, as journalist Carlo Garganese once stated, after once finding himself permanently on the sidelines owing to a betting ban.
Indeed, at the start of 2025, it would have been ludicrous to suggest that Tonali should be dropped, with the 25-year-old hailed as one the Toon’s “standout” talents by podcast host Andrew Musgrove, even when Alexander Isak was still on the books,
Indeed, he collected four goals and two assists in league action all across last season, alongside averaging four duels won per Premier League contest.
Tonali’s drop in performance
Stat
vs Man United
vs Burnley
Minutes played
77
90
Goals scored
0
0
Assists
0
0
Touches
74
71
Shots
2
0
Accurate passes
48/55
49/60
Possession lost
13x
17x
Tackles won
1
0
Total duels won
5/9
2/7
Stats by Sofascore
However, Howe will soon have to face up to the fact that Tonali is regressing just like Gordon, with the former AC Milan battler winning just seven of his 15 duels across his last two outings in December.
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Moreover, he has been uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball at his feet, with possession given away a costly 17 times at Turf Moor, which is coincidentally the same number of passes the ex-Everton winger would miscalculate.
Journalist Luke Edwards, at the close of the topsy-turvy 3-1 win, would dish out some unwelcome home truths to Tonali, with Edwards stating that below-par number eight was both “dreadful” and at points “doesn’t look interested”.
There could be some weight behind that second comment, with Tonali no doubt unimpressed with his team’s drop in form, having once been touted to be an £85m-calibre performer at his St James’ Park peak.
Still, with no such big move in sight anymore, Tonali needs to buck his ideas up quickly, as the dwindling number eight could be surprisingly axed for Newcastle’s first game of the New Year versus Oliver Glasner’s men, alongside Gordon.
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