Newcastle's 'unlucky' debutant impressed Eddie Howe despite not being 100% fit
Eddie Howe gave three new players their first taste of life at St James' Park today as Newcastle United beat Brest 1-0 to retain the Sela Cup.
Odysseas Vlachodimos shared the time between the sticks with Martin Dubravka who was goalkeeper for the first half with Oddy replacing him at half time.
Lloyd Kelly also had an impressive debut and grabbed himself an assist by pinging the long ball forward for Harvey Barnes to latch on to, eventually putting the ball beyond the keeper for the game's only goal.
Although, it wasn't the only time the ball hit the onion bag with 21-year-old striker Will Osula making his Newcastle debut 'unlucky' not to have marked the occasion with a goal after his lovely slotted effort was chalked off with the linesman's flag signalling offside. It was a tight call but without VAR, we'll never know the truth.
Will Osula was unlucky to not be awarded his goal
Despite coming off in the second half with no goals to show for his efforts, he did enough to impress gaffer Eddie Howe, especially as the £15m signing from Sheffield United had barely trained in the run up to the game as revealed by Howe in an interview after the game (via The Shields Gazette).
“He did really well when you consider when he joined us he hadn’t trained for seven or eight days with a concussion. We knew playing today he wasn’t at his peak physical condition.
“I thought he showed his qualities today and what he’s going to bring to the team, his pace, strength and took his goal really well - he was unlucky with the marginal offside. I think he’ll be really pleased with his efforts.”
We expect Will Osula will be on the bench next week
Thankfully the Danish U21 international made it through the game unscathed and we expect he'll be on the bench next Saturday when Newcastle take on Southampton.
We're sure by now Eddie Howe has his starting XI picked for next week and even if there's another addition before then, we doubt they'll be thrown straight into the starting lineup.
Hopefully, then, we have a new name or two on the bench next Saturday.
