Jamie Carragher has suggested that Allan Saint-Maximin was ‘affected’ the most by Steve Bruce’s sacking at Newcastle United, as he told Monday Night Football on Sky Sports.
Prior to Newcastle recording a 1-1 draw against Manchester United yesterday, Carragher was sharing his thoughts on Saint-Maximin under Bruce and now Eddie Howe.
Prior to the Frenchman opening the scoring against the Champions League-chasing side, his manager shared earlier on in the week that he wanted his team to ‘attack with relationships’ and not as ‘individual’ players, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
Out of all the Newcastle players, Saint-Maximin is the best ball-carrier and the one player who attacks as that ‘individual’ that Howe was seemingly pointing towards.
Whilst it’s not a criticism of the 24-year-old, it’s perhaps one part of his game Newcastle fans want to see him improve on and that’s put his head up and be more simple when running with the ball.
Nonetheless, Carragher touched upon what Howe had to say about Saint-Maximin and the player’s relationship with the unpopular Bruce.
“When you are going as an individual, a lot of that is on the counter-attack,” said Carragher. “You are looking for Wilson, there’s Almiron as well.
“Saint-Maximin, ‘get us up the pitch under Steve Bruce. Go and do something on your own. A bit of magic’.
“Eddie Howe, I don’t think wants that from his team. He wants it to be the whole team are high up the pitch.
“That’s why I go back to, this is defiantly a counter-attacking team – there’s definitely been a drop off from him, when Eddie Howe has come in.
“When Steve Bruce lost his job, it seemed to have affected him a little. He came out and said something about their relationship, there was no doubt that he was a huge standout under Steve Bruce.”
On paper, it was a much-needed point for the Magpies, but they will feel deflated after that draw for many reasons.
There’s no doubt that they were the better side and they should have seen the game out by claiming all three points.
But it’s not Edinson Cavanis equaliser that will hurt more, but the fact that, both Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson, went off injured yesterday.
With Newcastle in the middle of a very busy festive period, the last thing they needed was to see two of their star attacking men hobble off.
Wilson’s looked more serious than Saint-Maximin’s because the Englishman appeared to have injured himself when trying to roulette his way out of trouble just before the half-time break.
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