Allan Saint-Maximin was at his best for Newcastle United against Bournemouth.
Or maybe that should be…Newcastle United were at their best on Wednesday night because of Allan Saint-Maximin.
The 23 year old a constant threat as the hosts couldn’t handle him, the French winger laying on all of the opening three goals. Bournemouth will have been relieved that ASM was subbed after an hour, a few minutes after getting his assist for Almiron’s excellent goal.
No surprise as well that only one more goal was scored in the final half hour with ASM sitting in the stands, despite Bournemouth being a total mess in the final stages, Newcastle failing to take full advantage of that. The scoreline 1-1 in terms of goals after Allan Saint-Maximin had left the action.
That is what our eyes saw but what about the stats?
This is Newcastle United’s PL record this season when Allan Saint-Maximin hasn’t been able to start:
Played 14 Won 1 Drawn 5 Lost 8 Points 8 Goals For 9 Goals Against 26
Yes, Newcastle have only one Premier League match (1-0 home win over Palace when NUFC only had three shots on target including Almiron’s winner) this season when Allan Saint-Maximin didn’t start.
These are the PL matches where Allan Saint-Maximin has been able to start:
Tottenham 0 Newcastle 1
Newcastle 1 Man Utd 0
Chelsea 1 Newcastle 0
Newcastle 1 Wolves 1
Newcastle 2 Bournemouth 1
Aston Villa 2 Newcastle 0
Newcastle 2 Man City 2
Sheff Utd 0 Newcastle 2
Newcastle 2 Southampton 1
Newcastle 0 Norwich 0
Arsenal 4 Newcastle 0
Palace 1 Newcastle 0
Southampton 0 Newcastle 1
Newcastle 3 Sheffield United 0
Newcastle 1 Villa 1
Bournemouth 1 Newcastle 4
Played 18 Won 10 Drawn 4 Lost 4 Points 34 Goals For 24 Goals Against 17
As you can see, a bit of a difference…
ASM clearly isn’t the finished article, which is maybe the most exciting thing, as in much more to come in the future.
However, even at this stage he turns Newcastle into a far better and effective team when he plays, fact.
Are Newcastle United a one man team?
Not quite…but the statistics above are overwhelming, when Allan Saint-Maximin starts, Newcastle have better results, create more chances, score more goals and concede less.
When he isn’t in the starting eleven, Newcastle are very predictable and have little / no cutting edge, even conceding far more goals.
The challenge now is to bring in players of a similar level for him to play alongside, or else risk losing Allan Saint-Maximin to clubs that do have those players.
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