HE has played as a centre-forward and a central midfielder in his fledgling Newcastle United career – and now Eddie Howe feels Elliot Anderson has proved he can also make a positive impact as a wide attacker.

Anderson made his fourth appearance of the season when he came off the bench for the final 20 minutes of Saturday’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace.

However, whereas his previous three appearances had seen him slot into a central-midfield role, the 19-year-old’s latest outing saw him replace Ryan Fraser in an attacking position down the left-hand side.

While Anderson was unable to spark a breakthrough as Newcastle were held to a goalless draw, he was a positive, energetic presence in the closing stages, with Howe delighted to see him catching the eye in a previously-untried role.

“I thought he was very bright,” said Howe, who opted to keep Anderson as part of his first-team squad this season rather than send him on another loan. “I brought him on on the left – I thought our midfield three were doing well at that moment in the game, I didn’t want to disrupt their rhythm. I thought we had control of the game.

“Sometimes, if you make a change to an area that’s functioning well, you have a negative effect, so we put him wide. It’s an area that he can play and play very well, and certainly his chopping and turning in the box was very impressive.

“He put a couple of lovely balls in with his left foot, which we probably should have done better with, so I’m very pleased with Elliot. Again, he comes on, home game, pressure on him, and he wants the ball in every moment, and that’s a big positive to take.”

Saturday’s draw means Newcastle have picked up seven points from their opening six games, and currently sit in 11th position in the table.

Their only win came on the opening weekend of the season against Nottingham Forest, but their only defeat came courtesy of a controversial stoppage-time concession at Liverpool, and on reflection, Howe is satisfied with his side’s performance levels, even if he feels their current points tally does not reflect the positive way in which they have been playing.

The Northern Echo:

“I’m not happy with the start,” he said. “I want more points, I want to win every game. I thought we were possibly slightly fortunate to get a point against Brighton, but I thought at Wolves we were the more dominant team and I thought (against Crystal Palace) we were the more dominant team too.

“There’s always swings and roundabouts, it never always goes for you, but I thought we should have got something from Liverpool. There’s points we’ve left out there, but it’s up to us to improve those slight margins.”