It is an accepted fact that Newcastle United lack a regular goalscorer. The land of the No.9 Legends such as Alan Shearer, SuperMac and Wor Jackie is temporarily barren.
Callum Wilson at £30m is regularly missing through injury and £25m Chris Wood has notched only once in 10 appearances. Tottenham on the other side of a significant coin will possess England skipper Harry Kane when they host the Mags come the weekend.
Think of him and you conjure up visions of a modern day Shearer. Goals upon tumbling goals. Same style. What we would do to have him but then every club would love Kane. Manchester City tried hard enough.
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This break in Premier League hostilities has seen both Wood and Kane on national service. Both scoring significant goals but both it must be admitted living a gulf apart when it comes to registering in the most elite of global company.
Wood became New Zealand's greatest ever international goalscorer when his brace against Fiji took him to 30 goals from 62 caps. He then in his very next match on Thursday night increased his impressive figures by another couple of goals. Good on him, you can only play against what is put in front of you and Geordies are well chuffed for him.
However as much as we might like to we cannot begin to compare Wood's international record to Kane's haul of 49 goals from 68 appearances for England or Shearer's 30 in 63 games for that matter. The difference in opposition is hugely significant.
Chris's goals have come against the likes of Fiji, Japan, Solomon Islands, Jamaica, Honduras, Papa New Guinea, New Caledonia, China, Oman, Gambia, and Jordan. The nearest to a powerhouse is Mexico.
Often the Kiwis can be flat track bullies. For example his record smashing during the last week came in two World Cup qualifiers where his team ran up 11 goals. After the Fiji stroll in the sun came North Caledonia when Wood went on as a 71st minute sub and scored in the 83rd and 89th minutes to make the final score a whopping 7-1. I watched Cally and to be truthful they were no better than a pub team riddled with mistakes right from the start.
Geography dictates an awful lot in terms of the quality of international opposition and New Zealand are not surrounded by mighty footballing nations which means Wood's Premier League goal exploits are a greater indication of personal impact. Here he's done okay if nothing special.
In his last four completed seasons with Burnley he has scored 10, 10, 14 and 12. This term between Burnley and Newcastle he has managed four PL strikes in 27 appearances which means he is playing catch up.
However United supporters and Howe are grateful for the unselfish work Wood has done leading the line and sacrificing himself for the team effort. It is just that judged by the highest of standards more is required and in the long run that will undoubtedly tell against him as United build towards a new existence.
Kane meanwhile is the real deal. He has scored 183 PL goals in 291 appearances for Spurs with club career figures over all competitions hitting a massively impressive 259 strikes from 442 games.
He is attempting to hunt down Shearer's so-far untouchable PL record of 260 goals amassed from 441 games over 14 seasons. A total which is even more impressive given that it does not include the 23 goals Big Al scored for Southampton in the old First Division before it was rebranded as the Premier League in 1992.
When club is swapped for country then the trend remains the same for great goalscorers of course. Hot shot Harry scored England's winner against Switzerland, already World Cup qualifiers, at Wembley over the weekend and if it was from the penalty spot then no matter.
This particular strike equalled Sir Bobby Charlton's England total of 49 which truly elevates him into the land of international giants. Yet Kane is much more than just a goalscorer of course. As though that was not enough!
He is a goalmaker too. He has 19 Premier League assists since the start of last season which is more than any other player. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Bruno Fernandes are next in line at 18 apiece. Specialists are, well, special but to both make goals and score goals is the rarest of gifts.
Kane and Song take us into the realms of fantasy, something Peter Beardsley did at club level with Newcastle when he plundered 24 goals in season 93-94 and laid on the vast majority of Andy Cole's 41 from 46 matches.
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