Anthony Gordon has revealed that an open and honest meeting after Newcastle United were beaten heavily at Brentford has changed the squad’s mindset for the better.
It was Gordon who got the party started with an absolute howitzer against Aston Villa in the 3-0 win on Boxing Day at St James’ Park. The England star feels that lit the touch paper for fans and sparked one of the best atmospheres of the season on Tyneside.
However, after Newcastle made it four wins in a row against Villa to climb to fifth place, Gordon has warned that the Magpies are ready to take on anybody right now. Eddie Howe’s team will sign off 2024 away to Manchester United and the mood could not be much better.
Although, it is a far cry from where Newcastle were just a couple of weeks ago. Gordon told Chronicle Live: “It feels like we have had a complete mindset shift from a couple of weeks ago. We were on the verge of missing opportunities and missing games that could be won.
“We didn’t look like we are going to score. Now we look dominant again and we can score at any moment. We were becoming the nearly-men. The Brentford game was a poor loss. We played really badly.
“From then, it was like: ‘Who are we going to be? Because we can keep missing out, but the table’s so tight that we can actually start taking advantage. From there, we haven’t looked back. I think we realised that was a point where we needed to really kick on. We have done.”
While Gordon was taking part in his post-game media duties, Villa boss Unai Emery was complaining about the decision to send off Jhon Duran. Emery said: “Red card. But you have VAR. The referee is the only person out of all players, coaches and supporters that can take the time. He has to be intelligent, and take a decision that is so, so important.”
However, by that time Newcastle were already in control of the game thanks to Gordon’s scorcher in the first two minutes. When asked if the victory sent out a statement to the rest of the Premier League, the Scouser said: “Yeah, I think so. It was a good start wasn’t it, we scored early.
“If you concede early against us, it is going to be difficult, and then they got the man sent off, so a good performance. Geordies on Boxing Day are always going to give a good atmosphere but I think they can only react to how we play. So once we got that goal to start the game plus the sending off we were just all over them. The crowd got into more and more.”
After Newcastle produced 22 attempts, struck the woodwork, and had three goals disallowed, it’s quite clear that Villa were fortunate to get out of St James’ Park with a 3-0 scoreline. On another day Newcastle could have had 10 given the mood of the crowd and the way the game was turning!
The England international said: “It felt like we could have had more. I think Bruno’s disallowed goal and that rule of it hitting your hand it’s nowhere near a handball. But yeah, we have scored a lot lately and kept clean sheets, and it is a good recipe for success.”
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/anthony-gordon-issues-scary-newcastle-30664419
