Georginio Wijnaldum scored four as Newcastle crushed Norwich to claim their first win of the season. It was indeed a very good game for the neutrals as both teams went goal crazy in the first half. Newcastle took the lead with a tidy goal from you-know-who. Norwich immediately hit back to level things up. Ayoze Perez made it 3-1 six minutes later only for Nathan Redmond to pull one back to 3-2 barely a minute later. However, Newcastle were relentless in the second half, hitting Norwich on the counter, scoring three more goals in the process with Moussa Sissoko providing the assists for four of Newcastle’s six goals to complete the rout.
The former PSV midfielder has had a major culture shock since his move from a championship winning side to a struggle on Tyneside. However, he has been the only bright light in Newcastle’s dark season so far. His energy from midfield is unparalleled as he tore through Norwich’s midfield and defence. Wijnaldum now has six goals from midfield showing he is indeed a bargain for a fee of £14.5m that the Magpies paid. The Dutchman has given the Newcastle midfield a goal threat they have lacked since the late Gary Speed prowled behind Alan Shearer in Sir Bobby Robson’s swaggering Newcastle side of the early 2000s.
We needed that. We had a few games where we played good, especially in the first half, but at the end of the game we don’t have the points, or only the one point. You only have to look at the game against Chelsea and we should have had three points but gave it away. Every day we work hard to get the result we have now, we needed it.
…said the Dutchman who also cheekily told Mitrovic that he’d teach him how to score four goals in a game after the former admitted to never scoring four in a game before!
Georginio Wijnaldum was everywhere for Newcastle on Sunday. As the heat map suggests, the midfielder had 54 touches in the game, running up and down the pitch at will as Newcastle destroyed Norwich on the counter.
He also completed 29 out of 37 passes with a pass accuracy of 78 percent while he attempted 17 passes in the attacking third where 13 were successful with a success rate of 76 percent.
The Dutchman’s goals from only five shots with a staggering conversion rate of 80 percent.
The midfielder’s performance drew praise from his manager Steve McLaren as well as the likes of former Newcastle fan favourite Alan Shearer and England legend Gary Lineker.
You saw today what he’s capable of doing, which is why we brought him here. He can be and will be – and showed today – that he’s a Premier League player. Now we need consistency. We need a little bit more, but we need consistency – and that’s from everybody, so they have all got a lot to do.
…beamed McLaren as he would hope that his side have turned the corner. Wijnaldum is shining brightly at the moment but he will know it takes more than just one performance like this one to help his team as well as himself to progress forward.
