Chris Wood has become Newcastle United’s second January signing. The 30-year-old New Zealand international wouldn’t have been on many supporters’ wish lists for the month. However, he is a consistent Premier League goalscorer and his arrival for £25 million weakens one of our direct rivals in the relegation fight. It is easy to see why he has been brought in.
A quick look at his overall season statistics above indicates the player we are getting. Wood is a consistent source of goals in the Premier League. Since he signed for Burnley in 2017, he has reached double figures for goals in four successive seasons. Wood is one of only nine players to manage this feat.
His departure will cause problems for Burnley and as Newcastle’s final match of the season is at Turf Moor, it looks like it could be a tasty affair. Wood has already scored the winner in a fixture between the two teams, hopefully, he does so again. This time for us.
Style of play
The graphic above shows Chris Wood’s strengths as a striker. He is one of the best in the air and that is shown by his average of 6.6 successful aerial duels per ninety minutes. This puts him in the 96th percentile among strikers. In the Premier League, this is his one elite skill.
During the embarrassing FA Cup defeat to Cambridge United, we put 35 crosses into the box. There was a lack of a focal point and as a result, this caused the lower league side a few issues. Wood solves that problem. His arrival alongside Kieran Trippier suggests some joined-up thinking within the recruitment meetings.
There is an added bonus that Wood’s aerial presence will help when defending set-pieces too. We have been weak aerially this year and we have been vulnerable at set-pieces. Although he has been signed to lead the line, this is another positive of the move.
The rest of the profile isn’t overly encouraging. To contextualise a lot of the numbers, he has been playing in a direct team in Burnley. His goal-scoring numbers and underlying metrics rank him as an average Premier League striker.
Wood’s average of 0.33 non-penalty expected goals (npxG) per ninety minutes is good. During the same period, Callum Wilson’s npxG per ninety is 0.34.
The graphic above shows Chris Wood’s shot map from this season. He is very much a penalty box player and that is where Eddie Howe will want him to operate. Allan Saint-Maximin and Jonjo Shelvey like to shoot from range. The team needs a player capable of taking up the right positions in the penalty box for rebounds. Wood can do that.
It is easy to see the way Chris Wood likes to play from the above heat map. The majority of his touches come in the final third. It again shows that he likes to get into the penalty area. Another interesting takeaway is how he likes to pull onto either side, most commonly to win aerial duels from goal kicks. Fullbacks are normally weaker in the air and Wood targets them to ensure he wins the ball.
Under Eddie Howe, there is a preference to build from the back. However, the out ball is usually a direct ball down the flanks for Callum Wilson to run on to. Wood will thrive with such service. He is capable of winning physical battles on either flank and retaining possession.
Goals
After playing for Burnley for four seasons, it is expected that Chris Wood would be good at getting goals from second balls. Sean Dyche’s team try to create chaos in the opposition penalty area from open play and set pieces. The ability to read the game and get into the right positions is key for strikers in their team.
Source: Wyscout
The first image shows James Tarkowski winning the first header from a well-directed free-kick just inside the opposition half. It also shows Wood holding his run near the penalty area. As a result, he’s in space to react.
The second image shows how Wood is in the right area to get a headed shot on goal. The attempt was weak, but well-directed and found the back of the net. Our attacking set-pieces have been poor for the most part this season. The addition of Trippier’s delivery and Wood’s presence should help improve our record.
The series of images below show the type of goal that Wood isn’t known for in England. Burnley attack down the flanks and rely on aerial balls to create chances. For New Zealand, Wood showed his ability to get in behind a defence and the composure to round the keeper, scoring against Gambia.
The first image shows Wood seeing the chance to run in behind the middle of the three centre backs. His acceleration got him into the box with the ball and his composure allowed him to round the keeper. The reading of the game from Wood is excellent. In counter attacks with Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron carrying the ball at pace, this is the type of chance that will come more regularly at Newcastle. It is good to see he is capable of making the right runs behind opposition defences.
This next set of images shows his goal earlier in the season against Brentford. I mentioned above that the out ball under Eddie Howe is a direct ball into the channel. This shows Wood managing to get on the end of this type of ball, before finishing emphatically first time.
Despite his reputation as an aerially dominant target man, Wood does still have a turn of pace and he can finish from wider areas in the penalty area. The second and third goals shown in this section are the type of chances Wood will get more regularly at St James’ Park.
Aerial prowess
This is the best attribute that Chris Wood has. He is very dominant in the air and this can often lead to his team retaining possession in the attacking half. The above graphic shows the approach he was used to with Burnley. The yellow arrows show the incompleted passes and the red arrows show completed passes. The Clarets played a very route one style.
This is an approach we could use more often, to help our defenders who aren’t very good at playing out from the back. Wood adds a different dimension.
In the example below, it looks like the Leeds defender is the favourite to win the ball. In the first screenshot, he’s already started his jump and got his arm across Wood. However, Wood’s strength puts the defender off balance and the striker manages to win the flick on. The ball is picked up by Aaron Lennon and it puts the team into a promising attacking position.
This season, there has been an admirable approach from Howe to try to build from the defence. It is likely to continue, but he now has an aerial monster in the attacking half to win long balls forward and get into positions like this one. If you have Almiron, Joelinton and Saint-Maximin in the position of the three Burnley players against four defenders, there is a good chance that a high-quality opportunity can be created. All three are very good at running with the ball.
As he showed in our recent match with Burnley, Wood is excellent at finding the weak link of a defence and regularly pulling on to that player for aerial duels. Fabian Schar was that player in our defence and Burnley managed to create several promising attacking situations by isolating Wood against him.
Can he create?
A record of seven Premier League assists during his Burnley career suggests that he isn’t the best at linking play and creating chances for others. Again, this is likely a consequence of Burnley’s attacking patterns. Wood is the player they wanted in the penalty area to take the shots.
In our match with Burnley last season, Chris Wood showed his dribbling and vision to assist Matej Vydra for the opening goal.
He picked up the ball in the corner of the box, with a difficult chance of getting into a position to get either a shot or cross away. However, he drove at the two defenders and knocked it towards the touchline, squeezed in a cross and gave Vydra an easy task of slotting home.
The image of Chris Wood is a target man with a lack of mobility, isn’t quite correct. He does have acceleration and the ability to carry the ball. He just had few opportunities to show those qualities with Burnley.
Availability
There is a famous quote that says ‘availability is the best ability’. This is something we need in the striking position. Callum Wilson has been an excellent player for us, but his frequent injuries do cause problems and leave us short at key moments.
This season, Chris Wood has started every Premier League match for Burnley. During the last three seasons, his fewest appearances in the league has been 32. This means that we should always have a striker available when Wilson is out.
Where does he fit in the current squad?
Wood will arrive and immediately be thrown into the team as the starting striker. Callum Wilson will be out for a number of weeks. Eddie Howe will hope that Chris Wood can come into the team and score the goals during the interim period. It is likely he will have a combination of Miguel Almiron, Joelinton, Ryan Fraser, Saint-Maximin and Joe Willock playing off him.
There is a reason to believe he could strike up an excellent relationship with Joelinton. During his time on Tyneside, the Brazilian has looked best when playing alongside another forward player. Wood’s physicality and instincts will suit our record signing.
Joelinton will be able to drop deeper and it provides the team with some tactical flexibility. Howe can start with the pair upfront in a 4-4-2. Depending on the match state, Joelinton can either play an advanced role or drop into midfield to add numbers in that zone.
Howe wants to have a starting team with flexibility and that could be one direction he takes it in. To begin with, Wood will be the starting striker. It will be interesting to see if he partnered with Wilson when the number nine returns.
That is one option for the manager. If he keeps playing with one striker, we will have genuine competition in that position for the first time in a long time.
