Newcastle star winger gets slammed for his second-half performance Vs Ireland

Almost one week of action has happened in the first international break of the 2024/25 campaign, while a week's action is yet to come. Like other teams, Newcastle United also sent a number of players to perform for their national side, and while some are having quite a good time, others are still in search of the required momentum. Recently, Newcastle's star winger was slammed by talkSport's pundit for his performance against Ireland.

Newcastle star winger gets slammed for his second-half performance Vs Ireland

The English national side was up against the Irish nation on the 1st matchday of the Nations League. Not only was this match important for the nation's representation in the tournament, but with this game, a new era was kicking in English football as this was the debut game for interim manager Lee Carsley after Southgate had resigned with the loss in the Euro 2024 finals.

Even though England managed to win the fixture quite comfortably through the first-half goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, it proved to be a fixture of two halves for Newcastle star Anthony Gordon. Not to forget, one of the major criticisms faced by Southgate that led to his resignation was not giving sufficient game time to the winger, but now it feels that the time has changed.

Starting for his nation, Gordon proved quite effective in the first half, playing a key role in the buildup, beating England's go-ahead goal of the night. However, the star Magpies winger looked quite faded in the second half, as compared to the first one. Speaking on Anthony's performance, talkSport pundit Adrian Durham remarked his performance as “terrific in the first half but terrible in the second.”

While Durham's statement might appear true for some reasons, it doesn't represent the whole story, as Gordon, in the whole fixture, was involved in building a big chance as well as taking 3 shots on target in the process. In fact, England's interim Carsley had a completely opposite say to Durham on Gordon's performance.

Praising the 23-year-old winger, Carsley mentioned,

""On a really dry, sticky pitch, it's not often ideal for dribbles, but I thought Anthony was really good, a real threat. He's carried on his form from last season, and he looks like a real dangerous player.""

- Lee Carsley

Carsley's statement explains that sometimes it's easy to form opinions on somebody's game performance as compared to actually being involved in it. Overall, it can be said that Gordon has kickstarted England's Nations League campaign on an impressive note, and much would be expected from him in the national side as well as for Newcastle.