Former Republic of Ireland international Tony Cascarino has heaped praise on Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin.
The Frenchman put in another tremendous performance in the Magpies’ 2-1 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday, and Cascarino is a big fan, even if he feels his teammates Joelinton and Miguel Almiron need to improve.
“Their front three were lively yesterday,” he said on talkSPORT [10/11; 06:53]. “Saint-Maximin is a handful, he really is. They’re just not being clinical.
“The chances they’re getting – Almiron, Joelinton – they’re just not being as clinical. But Steve [Bruce] will be delighted with the Newcastle team he had at the start of the season and the one he’s got now.”
OPINION
There’s no doubt that Saint-Maximin was electric on Saturday. The 22-year-old showed what he could do against West Ham United last weekend in an exciting display, and he followed it up with a terrific effort against the Cherries. Obviously the end product isn’t quite there yet, which was evident when he crashed an effort against the crossbar when he really should have placed it in the far corner of the net, but that will hopefully come in time. However, the statistics do demonstrate that he gave Bournemouth a lot of problems on Saturday. As per WhoScored.com, the former Nice man had two shots, produced three key passes and embarked on four successful dribbles on his way to a WhoScored rating of 7.47. He was electric, but his two teammates up front were slightly less impactful. Joelinton had four shots, three of them on target, but Almiron was off target with both of his attempts – including one which careened off the prone Saint-Maximin!
