Papiss Cisse will be delighted to hit a bum note
Like most football reporters in the country, I've scribbled down the term: "He just needs one off his backside" more times than I care to remember - but for Papiss Cisse and Newcastle United it is a phrase that could not have been more fitting after the win over West Brom.
Cisse's long run in the Premier League since May, was one of the longest of his career but as they say with strikers form is temporary, class is permanent.
Cisse knew little of his deflected strike against WBA and it was far from class, but if it restores his confidence in front of goal nobody will complain.
Goalscoring in football is a weird science.
Sometimes no matter what you try it won't go in.
Ask Demba Ba, there was a period at the end of last season when no matter what he tried it just wouldn't go in, hitting posts, bars, keepers and covering defenders along the way.
And although Cisse grabbed goals in Europe and the Capital One Cup you just got the feeling he was struggling with some kind of confidence crisis in the Premier League.
Cisse is not only a poacher, he's a confidence player too.
Most strikers genuinely lose sleep if they are on a barren run and Cisse's body language of late has suggested as much.
Hopefully like Ba, he's now at the start of a run and this can be the beginning of a rich vein of form.
The number 9 is certainly due a bit more luck.
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Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.
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