Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon is relishing his new position as a central striker as the goals continue to flow during England's Under-21 European Championship campaign. The Magpies attacker has been used through the middle by U21 boss Lee Carsley in the tournament so far and has repaid the decision with two goals and an assist in four games.
Gordon scored the only goal of the game on Sunday as England progressed to the semi-final with a win over Portugal. Newcastle fans are now speculating as to whether Eddie Howe will use 22-year-old in a similar role when club football returns later this summer.
Gordon is certainly enjoying his new role and the experience that comes with it and believes it may even be his best position. “It’s very different,” said the Newcastle star.
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“Obviously, I haven’t played there many times so it doesn’t come naturally. I’m seeing a lot of the game in front of me, which is helping me a bit. I’m playing off Morgs (Gibbs-White), which is quite easy because he moves a lot.
“I’m getting a better understanding of football playing in different positions, a number eight and on the wings for Newcastle and now as a number nine.
“To be honest, I feel like it may be my best position because I think I’m better running off people. You can see where Morgs gets the ball and I’m spinning, I can use my pace a bit more. You can get a bit isolated on the wing, drifting in and out of games.”
Gordon's Newcastle career is yet to take off following a tumultuous Everton exit and an injury-hit start to life on Tyneside. However, the youngster was beginning to find form at the end of last season, scoring his first Magpies goal on the final day.
Despite continuing his good run with England, Gordon isn't happy with the chances he failed to put away on Sunday, ruthlessly lamenting the fact he didn't score more in the Portugal win.
“You’re going to get chances, and it’s up to me to finish them,” he continued. “I probably should have had one or two more, which I’m a bit gutted about.
“I’m extremely tired, but happy for the win, happy for the character we showed as a team, the way we dug in. We’ve had a lot of top performances so far in this tournament, and this was a completely different challenge, a completely different game where they had a lot of the ball but we came through it and dug in as a team.
“We haven’t had that test, we haven’t had that opportunity to show we’ve got that side to our game, but we definitely proved ourselves in that.”
