Cisse’s Newcastle days are numbered
At St James Park’ we saw two strikers experiencing very different kinds of fortune. On the one hand there was Ighalo, who’s brace ultimately secured the three points, but his opposite number Papiss Cisse had yet another match to forget. The Senegalese striker was withdrawn at half-time after manufacturing a mere two shots in the first-half – one of which was a wasteful effort from 12-yards which hit the side netting. Cisse’s form has dipped to a new low this season and if there is to be more investment in the next transfer window, it appears as though he will be moving from Tyneside very soon.
Impact of substitutes
For Newcastle, Siem De Jong was bought on for Cisse at the interval and his contribution suggests he may be in contention to replace the striker next weekend against Chelsea. They played the name number of minutes on the field and the Dutchman completed 10 passes as opposed to Cisse’s six. De Jong also almost had an assist in the second-half when he cut the ball back from the touchline, only for Gomes to cut the pass out before Perez could get his foot to it.
For Watford, Rolando Aarons replaced Haidara with 10 minutes remaining and despite playing out of position at left-back, he still attempted three crosses, only one less than than the man he replaced. The other change saw Obertan come on for Thauvin and given the little amount of time remaining, Obertan was unable to make any meaningful impact.
Watford made all three of their changes in the last 15 minutes, suggesting they were for time wasting and fresh legs, rather than for tactical reasons. Steven Berghuis, Nathan Ake and Adlene Guedioura completed eight passes between them and did a stellar job in shutting down any Newcastle attack, contributing three interceptions and clearances as well as one block. Ake, who is on loan from Chelsea, was arguably the most effective, completing two of the three interceptions.
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