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Newcastle United’s speedy defender continues to struggle

By Carson A Merk

OXFORD, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 04: Josh Ruffels of Oxford United is challenged by Deandre Yedlin of Newcastle United during the FA Cup Fourth Round Replay match between Oxford United and Newcastle United at Kassam Stadium on February 04, 2020 in Oxford, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
OXFORD, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 04: Josh Ruffels of Oxford United is challenged by Deandre Yedlin of Newcastle United during the FA Cup Fourth Round Replay match between Oxford United and Newcastle United at Kassam Stadium on February 04, 2020 in Oxford, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /
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After a poor outing against Norwich City, DeAndre Yedlin struggled again yesterday against Oxford United.

Despite Newcastle United’s unbeaten streak rolling on, the club has not been playing their best soccer lately. One of the players especially not in good form recently has been right wing-back DeAndre Yedlin.

He suffered a hand injury against Leicester City and would appear in their next match vs. Rochdale before missing four straight matches. While he was out, Emil Krafth and Isaac Hayden filled in at right wing-back with Javier Manquillo still injured. Yedlin returned in the first matchup vs. Oxford United.

Over the weekend, Yedlin continually found himself in positive attacking positions up the right flank, but his crossing was horrendous and brought a disappointing end to a majority of Newcastle’s attacking moves. He received a yellow card in the 52nd minute for a careless foul before Steve Bruce replaced him with Valentino Lazaro.

Unfortunately, the American defender’s performance was not much better yesterday in the win vs. Oxford. He played the entire match for Newcastle, but his crossing didn’t improve and the match-tying goal was scored directly in front of him. While it was a great strike and Yedlin did close out on Nathan Holland, it was just another moment where they needed a little bit more from him.

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During the Norwich match and Oxford replay, the commentary specifically criticized the performance of Yedlin. With no timetable set for Manquillo’s return and Krafth out for a while, Yedlin will need to step up to help the Magpies keep stringing together results and also to prevent his place from being taken by the new signing Lazaro. It’s always been the criticism of Yedlin, but he must combine his elite pace and aggressiveness going forward with quality crossing and less mental lapses defensively.