Sandro Tonali’s struggles could come to the boil when Eddie Howe names his team for the Carabao Cup semi-final next week
It was just three months ago that Manchester United legend Paul Scholes was prepared to dub Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali as the best midfielder in the Premier League.
When asked if Arsenal’s Declan Rice or Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo were the cream of the crop in the English top flight, Scholes pivoted away from the two options and highlighted Tonali’s performances across last season and in the first two months of this campaign.
But since then we have seen a deterioration in Tonali’s performances. A minor injury and an illness have stunted his momentum, while his partner just gave birth to their first child on Thursday which could also have been playing on his mind.
But despite playing regularly in recent weeks, he hasn’t been the same domineering force in Newcastle’s engine room that we have come to know.
It was telling when Newcastle needed more control in the midfield in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, it was Tonali, rather than Bruno Guimaraes or Joelinton, who was withdrawn for Jacob Ramsey with the game level at 0-0.
Ramsey’s impact was clear, Newcastle ended up winning the game.
And with Newcastle trailing 2-1 on Wednesday evening, it was Tonali, rather than the aforementioned pair, who was withdrawn at half-time to move Lewis Miley back into midfield after the teenager had once again started in a makeshift right-back role.
They were two decisions from Eddie Howe which indicate his standing in the squad after his performances across the last three months is not quite where it was.
From Tonali’s point of view, Newcastle’s second goal of the evening should really worry him in terms of whether he remains a definite started in United’s strongest XI.
Guimaraes’ overhit pass was kept in play by Miley, who showed all of his athletic prowess to prevent the ball from exiting the field of play. He then played the ball back to Guimaraes and his exquisite outside of the right foot cross was guided into the back of the net brilliantly by Joelinton’s glancing header.
In one passage of play, all three of Newcastle’s midfielders combined to get them back into the game. Their time playing together was short lived as Miley was forced to drop into centre-half after Fabian Schar was forced off through injury.
But such has been Miley’s good form across three different positions, he should be a guaranteed starter right now. If it is in his natural position of midfield then it is Tonali who is the prime candidate to drop out of the team.
Guimaraes has scored in all three of Newcastle’s three successive wins in the Premier League and has been Roy Keane like in his ability to carry the team on his back when they have needed it most this season.
Joelinton has had his struggles this season, too, but has been brilliant since returning to the side from injury. He has scored in the wins over Burnley and Leeds and the Magpies’ winning run has coincided with his return to the starting XI.
For the first time in a long while, Tonali’s place in Newcastle’s strongest XI is far from certain.
Nobody is writing a player of Tonali’s ability off. Far from it. But it would not be a surprise to see Howe unleash a midfield three of Guimaraes, Miley and Joelinton in next week’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester City.
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