Newcastle United forward Callum Wilson says he has taken 'full responsibility' for his barren goalscoring run but he is refusing to let negativity affect him.
A poor run from the England international has coincided with the Magpies’ own troubles in recent months. England manager Gareth Southgate was impressed by Wilson’s contribution earlier in the campaign, forcing him to recall the striker for the World Cup after three years in the international wilderness.
However, the Toon number nine has struggled to rediscover his goalscoring touch since returning from Qatar. For club and country, Wilson has bagged just once in his previous 16 appearances. A third-minute strike against West Ham United last month is all the 31-year-old has managed in 2023, with Newcastle’s frontline under increasing scrutiny.
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Calls for record signing Alexander Isak to start instead of him have ramped up but Wilson, while accepting blame for the Magpies’ barren spell, is blocking out the noise. He told the Footballer’s Football podcast: “We had chances (against Manchester City) but it's the same again each week. We keep saying ‘we had chances, we had chances.’
“I'm obviously partly to blame for that because I'm a striker and I take responsibility. Full responsibility. I never shy away from owning up and taking accountability. I need to fix up in front of goal. You’re never going to go through a season of missing chances because, when you're a goalscorer, you score goals no matter what.
“You just have to keep believing in yourself and don't let any self-doubt creep in. Let everybody from the outside do their talking. I hear there's a lot of noise and negativity and stuff but you've got to use that as motivation. Let people do their talking and you do your talking on a pitch.”
Despite a poor run, which has resulted in Newcastle winning just one league game all year, Wilson insisted there were plenty of positives to take from the City defeat. Last May, Eddie Howe’s men were humiliated 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium by the eventual Premier League champions.
“We went there and were ourselves,” Wilson added. “You can come away from a game, albeit in defeat, with your heads held high having learned a lot and taken a lot of positives away.
“We still know that there's a lot to work on. The last time we were at the Etihad, we got beat properly and, this time, I'd say it was a close game. The result wasn't in our favour but it just shows how far we've come in a short space of time - that was almost a year ago.
“That’s why I've always said on this podcast, ‘we're not getting ahead of ourselves as Newcastle players and we need to keep our feet on the ground’. We were always going to go through a rocky patch.
“When you want to be successful, and you want to get to a good destination, there’s going to be bumps in the road. Right now, that's kind of what's happened. We've played Liverpool, Man United and Man City and we've had negative results. But it can't stay like that.
“We've been in such great form all season. You’ve got to keep your faith in what got us success, stick with that and move on.”
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