Yahoo Sports Ghost of Chris Wood past haunts Eddie Howe
Bought as Newcastle United’s survival saviour, then rushed through the exit door as soon as the Saudi Arabian money started to be lavished on Tyneside, Chris Wood returned to St James’ Park to ensure his former employers endured a miserable end to 2023.
This has been a memorable year for Newcastle, featuring Champions League adventures, a top-four finish and a trip to Wembley, but it ends with six defeats from seven matches. Eddie Howe still has plenty of credit in the bank, both in terms of Newcastle’s owners and the club’s fans, but the alarm bells are ringing as his side endure their worst run since his first two months in charge.
Wood won’t worry too much about that, but having scored just one goal in his 20 matches at St James’ Park as a Newcastle player, even the 32-year-old cannot have imagined making such a successful return.
Newcastle splashed out £25 million to sign him when they desperately needed a striker to scramble out of the relegation zone two seasons ago, but jettisoned him in January as expectations were raised and ambitions recalibrated.
Nottingham Forest sensed an opportunity to sign a striker with proven Premier League experience, and for all the upheaval that has occurred at the City Ground in the last 12 months, the New Zealander remains a reliable attacking presence in a side that is beginning to find its way under new boss Nuno Espirito Santo.
Nuno is assembling a side full of pacy, athletic runners, and Anthony Elanga, Morgan Gibbs-White and Callum Hudson-Odoi all had their moments as Forest’s counter-attacking repeatedly shredded a fragile Newcastle backline. Ultimately, though, every side needs someone to put the ball in the net, and Wood did that clinically on three separate occasions.
“He did amazing work for us against Bournemouth in the last game,” said Nuno. “He was amazing, working really hard for the team. Everybody knows Chris Wood – he’s been in the game for a while now. But the way he did it here – how he was in the game and how he scored at the right moments – was fantastic.
“Thank you Chris for the job you did, and I really hope he does it again because the talent is there. I think he can become a regular goalscorer for us. It’s about the team helping him. It’s not only him, it’s about how we want to do things. We need to create the chances for him.”
Forest’s attacking players certainly did that against Newcastle, responding impressively to the setback of conceding a soft first-half penalty. The contact between Ola Aina and Alexander Isak was minimal as the Newcastle striker spun in the box, but a lengthy Var check upheld referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision to award a penalty, and Isak rolled home from the spot.
Forest levelled when a counter-attacking move that swept from one end of the pitch to the other ended with Elanga crossing for Wood to tap home, and the New Zealander added his second eight minutes after the break when he raced on to Elanga’s through ball and stepped inside Dan Burn before slotting home.
Burn struggled all afternoon, but his replacement, Tino Livramento, fared little better, playing Wood onside along with Kieran Trippier as the Forest striker galloped onto Murillo’s long ball before rounding Martin Dubravka to claim his hat-trick.
The victory was Nuno’s first success since being appointed as Steve Cooper’s successor, and Forest’s first away win since they triumphed at Stamford Bridge in early September.
“It feels very good,” said the former Wolves boss, whose side end the year with a home game against Manchester United. “The boys are very happy, but it was hard and I have to congratulate them because they did fantastic work.
“We have not been in for too many days, but all the things we are trying, the players are getting. They deserve credit for their hard work, and I thought we played well. It was a well-deserved win.
“Against Bournemouth, we had to play for 75 minutes with one man down, and the team didn’t really get chance to play how we would want. But here, I thought we showed much more what the players can give. We were compact and defended very well, so we are learning. We were always a big threat on the counter, and then Chris Wood had his amazing game.”
