Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has explained to BT Sport his surprise decision to leave key player Callum Wilson out of the starting XI for Thursday’s Premier League clash against Liverpool.
After a 4-0 hammering at Leicester City at the weekend, the Magpies travelled to Anfield in search of a big upset.
Newcastle top scorer benched vs Liverpool
Yet, Howe didn’t select his strongest starting XI, with top scorer Callum Wilson named on the bench.
It was a surprise call given that the striker had made nine starts in a row and had scored two goals in his previous three appearances.
Plenty of Newcastle fans were left perplexed.
Newcastle would actually take an early lead through an excellent strike from former Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey.
But the hosts would turn things around in less than 20 minutes and eventually run out 3-1 winners, courtesy of goals from Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Wilson replaced Allan Saint-Maximin in the 79th minute but wasn’t able to make a game-changing impact.
Howe explains Wilson omission
After the match, Howe was asked to explain his decision to take Wilson out of the side.
“It was a case of just trying to look after Callum and protect him,” replied the Newcastle boss [BT Sport 1 16/12 10:08].
“We know how important he is for us, we’ve got a very busy schedule of games, a lot of tight fixtures crammed in and it was a case of obviously understanding his history and knowing him, that we felt this was a wise game for him to miss out.”
It must have been a tough decision for Howe to optionally leave out his main goal-getter given Newcastle’s position in the table.
However, it’s much better to be without the striker for most of what is arguably the most difficult fixture of the season than to push him too far and risk losing him for months.
Additionally, Wilson has already picked up four yellow cards in the league this season, so only giving him a cameo role reduced his chances of picking up a suspension.
In other news, ‘An absolute handful’: Some Newcastle fans in ‘love’ with their player after last night.
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