Newcastle strikeforce has to find its potency
Apr 18 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
Newcastle United have an abundance of attacking talent at their disposal so why is a lack of goals such a major worry for new manager Alan Shearer? Chief sports writer Luke Edwards investigates.
THE criticism he has received this season has been constant, the attacks on his ability as a footballer sustained, but Shola Ameobi has scored as many goals for Newcastle United this year as Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins.
That is the same Michael Owen who is rightly regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers in the history of English football and the same Obafemi Martins who is idolised on the terraces as a cult hero in the number nine shirt.
Not bad company to keep for a player who has been harshly ridiculed by his club’s own supporters after being handed a new three-year contract in January and one who scored a crucial equaliser in the pressure cooker atmosphere of a Tyne-Wear derby just a few weeks later.
Unfortunately, for the club this illustrious trio are trying to keep in the Premier League, that is just one goal in the last three-and-a-half-months, a solitary strike each in a struggling team which has won just one of its last 16 games.
On paper, Newcastle have more firepower at their disposal than any of the other teams scrambling for Premier League survival, but it has been misfiring for months.
The area of the team which should be its greatest strength is, instead, proving to be the biggest disappointment in a dreadful season which may still have relegation to the Championship as the sting in its tail.
Owen has not scored since January 10, Ameobi’s only goal in this period came from the penalty spot against Sunderland on February 1 and Martins only has a spectacular volley in the home defeat by Arsenal last month – having missed a spot-kick earlier in the same game – to show for his troubles.
Of those goals, only the Nigerian’s have come in the last 12 games – a period in which Newcastle have been forced to acknowledge they are in the midst of a relegation battle.
Instead of relying on their most experienced strikers to score the goals to get them out of trouble, Newcastle have needed a winger, Peter Løvenkrands, a defender, Steven Taylor, and a raw youngster in Andy Carroll to find the back of the net and prevent a bad situation from turning into a truly disastrous one. While Ameobi has had to take the brunt of supporter frustration, perhaps the search for a scapegoat should stop and the blame shared around an under-performing front line which has, to put it bluntly, failed to justify its reputation this season.
