Andy Will make a big difference

ANDY Carroll’s cameo against Brighton showed he will ‘make a difference’ for Newcastle United this season, according to Jetro Willems.

The towering striker made his second debut for the Magpies when he replaced Willems in the 82nd minute of the 0-0 draw on Saturday.

Just the sight of Carroll warming up gave fans a boost during a nervy game at St James’ Park and the 30-year-old got quite the reception when he entered the field, with ‘Andy Carroll – he’s one of our own’ ringing out.

While the Magpies failed to find a winner at the death, with Carroll, Joelinton, Allan SaintMaximin and Christian Atsu all on the field, Willems was heartened by his impact.

“I still believe in this team. Despite everything we, had some great chances,” he said after the game, with Joelinton and Miguel Almiron both spurning good opportunities in the first half.

“Andy Carroll is a good player with a lot of experience and he will make a difference.

“You could see that when he came on.”

Brighton had a whopping 71% of possession against Newcastle and Steve Bruce felt his side needed to do much more with and without the ball and were too open.

After half-an-hour, Bruce shifted from a 3-4-2-1 to a 4-3-3; Willems was moved into central midfield, where he played for Eintracht Frankfurt on occasion, while Paul Dummett filled in at left-back.

Willems believes three at the back is still the Magpies’ ‘best system’ but admits the change of formation helped settle his side down.

“Brighton play a very different system and as you could see it was difficult for us. I’m glad we changed it, we were much better in the second half. I had to move to midfield and I felt it worked better then,” the Dutchman

added. “We managed to switch it straight away, there was no confusion. Brighton had the courage to play like that, but we lost the ball far too quickly. That was our problem, not the way we passed it.”