DWIGHT TO BE SELFISH
THE Islam Slimani situation is frustrating - but Rafa Benitez is doing exactly the right thing by focusing on getting the maximum out of the players he does have available. Hopefully Slimani is fit to make his Newcastle United debut this weekend but, if he isn’t, then there’s no point in worrying about it too much. This is the situation Newcastle have left Rafa in by not signing his top striker targets in January. Instead, Rafa had to work down the list and sign the one player on loan who was left available: an injured Slimani. Let’s now dwell on it. Instead, I hope Dwight Gayle really grasps his chance with both hands. I’ve liked a lot of what I’ve seen from Gayle in recent weeks and it has clearly been a response to Slimani’s arrival. He looks hungry, he is working his socks off, and he is providing goals for his team-mates.
But it’s time for him to get that little bit more selfish.
Sometimes you can work too hard as a striker, tracking back too much and doing the defensive work, so that by the time you arrive in the box you’re too shattered to have the sharpness to be really clinical when the chances fall your way.
I remember when I used to play with Mark McGhee at Newcastle; I would leave him to do most of the donkey work around the pitch so I was fresh and ready to score when the opportunities came my way.
It sounds selfish, and Mark would rightly be the first to give me an earful if I missed those chances. But he knew that’s what I did best and it was his job to create those openings for me.
Gayle needs to keep doing some of the work Rafa wants him to, but I want to see him busting a gut to get into the box as well.
Slimani’s prolonged injury absence is frustrating, but it is giving Gayle to prove himself in the Premier League.
Huddersfield at home is the perfect platform for that.