Sean Longstaff was a bit off the pace in last week’s game against Arsenal. There are a few possible explanations for this.
The team as a whole are still trying to gel as a unit while they get familiar with the new 3-5-2 formation. The most glaring reason could be that it was Sean’s first competitive match since suffering his severe knee injury.
Steve Bruce made the following comments to BBC Newcastle’s Matthew Raisbeck about his young midfielder and his return to full fitness.
“I have to be careful with the lad… Yes, he's back on the grass but he has to get back to feeling normal again.”
Newcastle United head coach Steve Bruce has been speaking to @bbcnewcastle about midfielder Sean Longstaff #NUFC pic.twitter.com/ZWDUbrFvPC
— Matthew Raisbeck (@raisbeck10) August 17, 2019
From these comments, it seems like Bruce is thinking about taking a more cautious approach with Longstaff. While he does not directly mention dropping him in his interview, he suggests the importance of being careful with Sean.
Martin Hardy in the Times is reporting that Steve Bruce will, in fact, drop the 22-year-old midfielder at Carrow Road this afternoon.
This comes, initially, as a shock since many would consider Sean one of the first names on the team sheet. Bruce’s preferred formation also consists of a three-man midfield, and the squad only has five midfielders registered.
However, if you really take some time let the news sink in, it really shouldn’t come as too big of a shock. Sean is still very young and inexperienced with only 10 Premier League games under his belt.
He has come off of a severe knee injury that, while it may have healed physically, will still constantly be preying on Sean mentally. Therefore, easing him back into the first team could prove to be the best approach for him in the longterm.
We will have to see if Bruce does, in fact, start Sean from the bench today against Norwich. Also what that would do to the formation.
Bruce could be contemplating using a 3-4-3 against the Canaries, thus sacrificing Sean for another forward. Or he may just stick with the same formation and bring the very experienced Ki Sung-yueng in for Sean for what is a big game for Newcastle.
If he does add the extra attacker, we would hope that Allan Saint-Maximin is fully fit to come into the first eleven. However, if he is still struggling with his hamstring problem, then Yoshinori Muto may be the man to come in.
40 comments so far
Nostradamus " Mike Ashley The Clown "
Aug 17, 2019 at 9:53 AM
Comment #1Did I beat Irish Rob
Nostradamus " Mike Ashley The Clown "
Aug 17, 2019 at 9:54 AM
Comment #2Yeah baby!!!!!
IrishRob
Aug 17, 2019 at 9:54 AM
Comment #3Yes you did!
#BoycottAshley ( OP)
Aug 17, 2019 at 9:56 AM
Comment #4Willems and Krafth in CM it is
TomaKaThor
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:00 AM
Comment #5I hope he does and reverts to a 4-3-3, with Saint Max and Willems, everyone is slaughtering Willems but it wasnt a great pass t him and if we didnt concede from it we wouldnt be talking about it…Schar made countless poor passes and one or two of them could of easily cost us…Schar is a bang average defender so if his passing and work rate are like last week he wouldnt be starting if we had a fully fit squad in my eyes.
SPRINGY
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:09 AM
Comment #6Cant see why willems should be gettin stick tbh…. absolutely crap ball played to him and it was his first game,so he’s hardly ganna be sharp with new team mates,really whoever tried the pass(dummett maybe? ) Should’ve been smarter played a safer ball to someone else…coz even if willems had received the ball it was a bit of a dodgy position pass to a new team member to get that ball under pressure,just my opinion like.
WLtoon
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:09 AM
Comment #7Bruce is right to drop Longstaff for a few games in my opinion. He clearly is,nt fit and his confidence would be hit if he is struggling.
Im more than happy with Ki as his replacement.
Just hoping we don,t start where we left off last week or we are in trouble.
IrishRob
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:11 AM
Comment #8The mistake had nothing to do with the pass if Willi wasnt asleep it wouldn’t have happened.
Schar is most definitely NOT a bang average defender. He had a bang average game, but even in the first half he had some world class tackles.
More clueless analysis by TomaKa, no surprise there!
hibbit
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:13 AM
Comment #9isn’t Saint Max injured ??????
IrishRob
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:19 AM
Comment #10One of the first things Bruce done as manager was order a truck load of magic sponges. So we should be alright on the injury front I reckon.
Jib
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:21 AM
Comment #11St Max felt his hammy in training
outside the box
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:24 AM
Comment #12with rafa the injury list was kept to a minimum whether this was due to training, medical staff or selection im not sure but it had a beneficial effect on results ….i hope under brucie this continues
TomaKaThor
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:25 AM
Comment #13More? I take it you are the one of the many morons who looks for arguments over the internet and sees his OPINIONS as fact. Bless your little keyboard warrior socks.
Ron Knee
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:29 AM
Comment #14NUFC Index@NUFC_Index
#NUFC have failed to win in their last 6 away Premier League games against Norwich (L4, D2, W0) since winning their first match in the competition against them in January 1994.
IrishRob
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:30 AM
Comment #15Less is more Toma, less is more!!
count
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:32 AM
Comment #16Jesus. Wondered how long it would be before the phrase “bang average” started insidiously weedling its way into the blog idiolect. Are we all from fckn Essex now or something?
Bang average? Fckn sh¡te.
IrishRob
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:34 AM
Comment #17Count blame Toma, it’s his fault! He should apologise too.
Vask
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:37 AM
Comment #18Martoon
Final League Position 15th
Final No. of Points 41
League Cup Round 2nd
FA Cup Round 4th
Player of the Season Almiron
Top Goal Scorer Carrol
No. of Goals for Top Goal Scorer 8
TomaKaThor
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:41 AM
Comment #19We will see if that sheep mentality ever leaves you if Schar has a bad season, i wonder if it will be similiar to Kennedy and the majority wanting to splash 30 million on him and then what happened…thickle… Go with the opinions of the masses ay
And as i said i wouldnt start Schar IF his passing and work rate was like last week, anyway il leave you to attack the next person over the internet, i have seen you have a tendacy for it, its all some people have in this world:)
Australian Pie
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:44 AM
Comment #20Would be absolutely fine with Longstaff being on bench and either Ki or St max coming in, personally would start with Ki and then if losing or drawing at half time get Ki or Shelvey off for St Max, if winning. Bringing Longstaff on for shelvey
IrishRob
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:45 AM
Comment #21He will be saying Reem next!! Lol
Australian Pie
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:46 AM
Comment #22Schar is a quality defender just had a bad game can see him being a huge part of our team for the next 5 years
fairscup
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:48 AM
Comment #23Dubs
Kraftwerk Lasc Fernan Dumm
St Max Hay Shel Ritch
Joe Migs
Attack Attack Attack
IrishRob
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:49 AM
Comment #24Exactly ozzy!! Well said. Toma isn’t able to see these things so instead he will accuse you of attacking him.
fairscup
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:57 AM
Comment #25Well said count @16, soon we will be saying “smashed it”
SPRINGY
Aug 17, 2019 at 10:59 AM
Comment #26St max myt be out injured and if shelvey and longstaff not 100%,ki should start in the middle with Hayden,would like to see kraft start but i think manquillo will het the nod as he has more premier league experience,yedlin myt of got the nod ahead of manquillo but think he’s still injured…almiron will start with joelinton and ritchie at left wing back…if we play 3 cbs….norwich are not great defenders but create chances….high scoring game i think today 3-2 toon
fairscup
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:02 AM
Comment #27Or “So” at the beginning of every sentance
count
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:05 AM
Comment #28So, Bruce starts him in a big season opener against Arsenal, then comes out with this “need to be careful with him” tripe. The way he is talking so much crap, the squad will soon lose respect for him. Wish he’d just shut up.
Markaccus
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:05 AM
Comment #29I can’t see Bruce switching to 4 at the back. It wouldn’t be “reverting” because he’s never played 4 at the back since he got here. He favours 352. The only change I’d like is to make one of the Cms an attacking one. (more like a 3412)
count
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:05 AM
Comment #30Haha “so”
Markaccus
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:12 AM
Comment #31If longstaff is dropped and St Max injured, the mf/fw line up could be…
—–muto–joel
——almiron
–hay—–shelv
Munster Mag
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:28 AM
Comment #32Hayden has become the most imporrant player we have. Hope he doesnt get hurt!
fairscup
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:30 AM
Comment #33Yea Munster, love the way he tackles, old school
Oldgit1
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:46 AM
Comment #34People saying that Longstaff is injured. Could it be his head is not in the right place. He has had a move to Manu snatched away from him including a huge salary. He has also lost his mentor in Rafa. An injury which he admitted to be a borderline career breaker. A lot there to deal with for such a young lad.
Hopes he pulls it round.
toon22
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:48 AM
Comment #35It hasn’t taken long for the clubs injury problems to return
Big Archie
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:52 AM
Comment #36How very sad the fans are already having a go at the players and the manager and we’re only one game in.
Willems was asleep and was beaten to a ball he should never have been beaten to. He made one mistake and we paid for it. Lets move on.
Longstaff is obviously not match fit.
We’re so used to Schar and his signature mazy runs, and him even scoring, poor lad can’t have an average day without getting slated.
Dummet was playing so far out of his normal position I reckon he’s never had to play a pass out to the left that hard in his life.
It was the first game of the season against the Arse and the teams first competitive game together, playing in a new formation and with a new manager. Did anybody really expect us to do any better than we did?
We got into the habit with Rafa of going into games fearing mediocre opponents because we knew how Rafa would set up. Fans used to fantasize about playing 2 up front when Rafa was in charge. Well Brucie’s going to do it, and personally I’m a lot more confident of our chances.
3-1 win for the Toon.
Jimmy Mac74
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:57 AM
Comment #37Last weeks goal was a failing on multiple levels…
The pass to Willems was a bad choice and poorly executed.
Willems lack of reaction to pass was bad
At this point the play was about half way line and we had numbers back. We should have been able to cope but the Lascalles went awol and tried to cover Arsenal players who were already accounted for by other defenders. This left PEA wide open for a tap in.
Failure on many levels. Willems seems to be getting most of the stick, but JL was equally as poor in my opinion.
Lascelles sells sea shells by the sea shore
Aug 17, 2019 at 11:58 AM
Comment #38Markaccus…
I like your thoughts at 29, I’d like to see on of our more pragmatic and creative midfield players deployed in the hole behind the strikers, if we are gonna play 3 in the middle of like to see one further up behind the strikers in a free attacking role but dropping into midfield when we are defending.
So it’s a 3412 attacking and a 532 when defending, both shapes allow to morph into each other, the problem with this is I just don’t have the confidence that Bruce could implement this with what I can only describe was antiquated training techniques, he may well be liked by the players, this doesn’t necessarily mean he is a good coach/manager… It all comes down to how he can express his ideologies onto the current squad, I worry about language barriers now when explaining tactics… We have a dearth of talent that speak different tongues, this is the biggest loss regarding benitez, he spoke multiple languages, and so did his staff so messages were more difficult to lose intranslatio. With players that aren’t fluent in English yet… Steve Bruce’s team are all British and only speak English to the best of my knowledge… I’m not knocking Bruce or bigging him up, I’m only trying to point out factual differences that are important to EPL clubs
Lascelles sells sea shells by the sea shore
Aug 17, 2019 at 12:05 PM
Comment #39And regarding the loss of possession for the goal at arsenal, the hat wasn’t an individual error, that was a bad period of play by the whole team which came from the dug out. After the positional changes the management should have been sending a message onto the pitch to play safe and composed until we found out shape again, putting square pegs in round holes because the squad selection (I mean the bench in general here) was all wrong. Bruce wanting to put a player into midfield because that’s where he played last season is a load of balls imo… Did Bruce ever see him play CM for Frankfurt before deciding to throw him in out of position? I feel he knew he had played there previously and tried a sticking plaster only to change his mind post substitution to add to the disarray that his lack of knowledge caused
Ron Knee
Aug 17, 2019 at 12:11 PM
Comment #40Newcastle United FC@NUFC
8′ – GOAL – Newcastle United Under-23s 1 (Jamie Sterry) West Ham United Under-23s 0
The young Magpies take an early lead at Whitley Park as Sterry fires a low effort into the left-hand corner! #NUFC