Howe must ditch the Newcastle star who had fewer touches than Pope

Newcastle United were just moments away from securing a much-needed Premier League win when they traveled to Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.

Indeed, Harvey Barnes broke the deadlock with just 16 minutes remaining, as Jacob Ramsey found him in space to beat Matz Sels.

After this goal, Newcastle have been in ninth place in the league competitions, they have won twice on the road, after the misery of April.

However, Elliot Anderson returned to impress his old side with an 88th-minute equaliser, meaning the final score read 1-1, as Forest continued their push towards the relegation zone.

Newcastle were made to waste chances late in the game, with Jacob Murphy providing very little in Nottinghamshire’s attacking positions.

Poor performance by Murphy vs Forest

Murphy managed to get help in Newcastle’s last game at St James’ Park, as Brighton and Hove Albion lost 3-1 on Tyneside, but returned to his neglect at the City Ground on Sunday.

The assist he collected against the Seagulls was the 31-year-old’s first goal for the Magpies since mid-March, and he never looked to pick up another goal or assist to add to his season on the road for Vitor Pereira’s home side, combining accurate crosses and successful tackles.

To make matters worse, far from always failing to pick out his teammates to try and find another assist, the Newcastle veteran also didn’t register in Sels’ goal, meaning he had to be sent off for Barnes to show him how.

With just two Premier League games remaining in the Magpies’ up-and-down season, the time is right for Howe to dump Murphy, as the 31-year-old once again failed to win a single medal in 61 minutes on the City Ground turf.

Surprisingly, despite the poor performance of the number 23 sticking out like a sore thumb in attack, while the likes of Nick Woltemade look healthy again, there is another under-performing player who has done equally poorly.

The Newcastle star was as bad as Murphy

The aforementioned Woltemade, unlike Murphy, found himself busy during the game at Forest, collecting two key passes, with just 21 touches of the ball.

While the German came up with moments of quality, despite his limited touch on the ball, William Osula was in constant flux whenever the ball came to him, as a number of missed opportunities saw him hit the post with a free-kick.

He ended up amassing fewer touches than Nick Pope in the Magpies net, registering just 25 touches, next to the former Burnley stopper’s 30.

He has won only four of his 11 duels, and, it is clear that the Danish striker is not a player who is ready for the Premier League at the moment, who has played well, which has led him to score five goals this season, often followed by a show, like the one against Tricky Trees, where many of his moments in the competition are impetuous and inaccurate.

Arguably, he was as bad as Murphy, as his waste cost the Toon a crucial win, just as Murphy’s in and out of the game also hurt Newcastle’s chances of securing a satisfying three points.

It could be time for Howe to go back to having Woltemade as his lone striker, as West Ham United come to St James’ Park next in the Premier League, with Barnes perhaps his chosen man down the left wing, again, in place of the 31-year-old.

At the end of the day, the Tyneside giants still have a chance of a European place at the end of a topsy-turvy season, and with that in mind, Howe must throw these underdogs on the attack, with a much-needed win.