Exactly two weeks ago I wrote an article about Dan Burn and Virgil vak Dijk.

Newcastle United had lost 1-0 at home to Aston Villa on the Saturday.

That article I did on Monday 19 October 2026 was sparked by seeing another piece on The Mag that morning, ‘Newcastle United striker problem’ by Oden Hudson: ‘Let’s start with the most obvious sign that the club has an issue in forward areas – we ended the [Aston Villa] game with Dan Burn at striker. A comical decision that not even the most rogue Football Manager player would dare consider, this is an abhorrently dreadful and comical sign that we have truly failed to address our issues up top over the summer.’

This has become a huge topic of conversation for many fans and indeed those in the media. Dan Burn playing up front for Newcastle United against Aston Villa.

This used by numerous people after the Villa match as final ‘proof’ of how bad things are at NUFC. Along the lines of  ‘proof’ of how clueless Matthias Jaissle, how rubbish the Newcastle United team is, how terrible the transfer policy is, and so on.

A made a few points at the time.

The way that writer and others were going on, you would have though Matthias Jaissle had played Dan Burn as a striker from the start of that Aston Villa match.

The reality was that Dan Burn came on in the 90th minute for Joelinton, who was knackered after starting his first competitive game in more than five months. Having trailed at the break, Newcastle United were the better team in the second half but struggled to break down an Aston Villa defence that was now set. Defending deep, Villa were very difficult to play through, whilst crosses into the box were getting zero joy as Villa’s tall defenders headed them all away, or Suzuki dealt with them,  we could all see United were getting nowhere as added time approached.

So Matthias Jaissle throwing Dan Burn on for the added time minutes in the hope he might cause a bit of chaos in the Villa penalty area, win the odd header that the rest of the United players had failed to do. It almost worked as well a couple of promising situations and one moment in particular, where if the ball had fallen more kindly then a Newcastle player (can’t remember who) would have had a huge clear chance from only seven or eight yards or so.

I could’t see anything wrong with doing that, chucking Dan Burn up front for the last few minutes. I didn’t have a problem with it. What I really did have a problem with was those Newcastle United fans and some in the media making out that this was the most ridiculous thing in the world and no other manager or team had ever done such a thing in the history of the game.

The fact is that countless other managers had done the same AND continue to do the same.

I quoted the example of Harry Maguire at Manchester United, he has been similarly used in the past as a last chance resort up front when Man U have been desperate for a goal. Indeed, ahead of the World Cup finals, a big debate was whether Thomas Tuchel should take Dan Burn or Harry Maguire. Neither were seen as going to be starting the England games but the key thing the media all agreed on was they could be brought on late in matches to help defend a lead, or to be thrown up front if they were desperate for a goal late on and struggling to create chances. Not playing as a striker for a long time but in the very final stages hanging around up front and a chance to try something different, win a key header maybe, cause some chaos.

My main quoted example two weeks ago though was Virgil van Dijk, I had seen him sent up front late on in countless Liverpool matches. With absolutely zero ridicule aimed at Jurgen Klopp or Arne Slot for doing so.

Surprise surprise, yesterday I saw relatively long before the final whistle at Anfield, Virgil van Dijk sent up front to try and salvage something as they trailed Arsenal. In the Sky Sports commentary this was seen as perfectly valid and an obvious thing to do to try something different, a tall central defender playing up front to try and get on the end of some crosses and long balls. Liverpool still didn’t manage an effort on target all match and lost the game BUT nothing negative has been said at all by anybody in the media or elsewhere, regarding this tactic of employing Virgil van Dijk as an emergency striker late on.

I think it is all a bit pathetic the way that certain journalists went on about Dan Burn playing those few minutes up front in the Villa defeat, a cowardly and not valid reason for having a go at Matthias Jaissle and Newcastle United generally.

Even worse the clueless Newcastle United fans doing the same, desperate to have a go at the new NUFC Head Coach by any means possible.

There are valid questions to be asked and debated on both Matthias Jaissle and Newcastle United generally. However, using that Dan Burn ‘striker’ thing as a stick to beat him and the club with was beyond embarrassing.