HE’S MY STAR
No starting place but Magpies boss Bruce is delighted with what Almiron brings to his team NEWCASTLE v BRIGHTON
St James’s Park: Tomorrow, 2pm MIGUEL ALMIRON has been hailed as “a manager’s dream” by Steve Bruce – even though the Newcastle boss cannot find a starting place for him.
The £20million Paraguay striker is Bruce’s odd man out after the return to fitness and form of striker Andy Carroll.
Almiron was relegated d to the bench in the win against st West Ham last week, despite being a talisman last term.
His defence- splitting g pass created Ryan Fraser’s goal al in the Carabao Cup win against gainst Blackburn, but the creative ative duo face being “game-changers” ngs from the bench this week.
Bruce said: “I think you u all know what I think of f Almiron. He’s a manager’s s dream and a delight. He would uld be disappointed, for sure. The idea last week was to physically be ready for West Ham and when people were tired with 20, 25 minutes to go, then a lively Almiron... and he nearly scored and nearly did what we all wanted him to do.”
Bruce says Almiron ( below, challenging Blackburn Rovers’ Ryan Nyambe) can play in a front two with new signing Callum Wilson to give his side a more mobile look in attack. It is those p permutations up p front Bruce now has at his disposal.
He said: “The more options you have at the top end of the
pitch the
better. That’s one of the positions where we needed to improve. We needed to score more and create more, and that’s the difficult part in the Premier League.”
Bruce wants fans back at St James’ Park as soon as possible – despite strict local coronavirus rules. He feels the Premier League isn’t a “spectacle” without the stadium being at least partly full and says the North East – hard hit by new lockdown restrictions on Thursday – needs a lift.
He a added: “If we ever need remindi reminding of what the game’s all about, it’s it the lack of supporters at th the moment. It’s just not t the same, it’s just not the s spectacle.
“We hope we can get fan fans back into the stadium. The whole of the North East’s been rocked, so we could do with a bit of good news for a change. If football gives people a bit of rel relief, then all well and good.”
Newc Newcastle would lose £25m in “match day revenue” if the ground was shut shu to fans for a season – more than th £1m a match.