Sean Longstaff has hailed the togetherness that exists at Newcastle United, saying it’s the one “massively underrated” quality that this side possesses.
Speaking to the Shields Gazette, here’s what he’s had to say, with him believing our ‘fight’ and ‘togetherness’ is the best things about this group of players:
“I think it’s a massively under-rated quality, the togetherness we’ve got,”
“When things do start going bad, we always stick together, we’re together as a group, and I think that’s probably one of the best things you can have as a side. We’re going to fight for each other.
“When one person’s down, we’re going to gather round them. That showed again last week.
The young midfielder – who was our stand out performer last time out – also spoke of how this helped us progress through to the FA Cup 5th round despite throwing away a 2 goal advantage late on:
“When it got to 2-2, it could easily have crumbled. Probably a lot of people thought it would have, but it was the complete opposite and we’ve got on to win the game and Maxi’s scored a great goal.
“Everyone’s over the moon to get through.”
What Longstaff says may sound cliche, but he is right in many ways. This team has a will and determination to get a result even when the chips are down – you only have to look at Everton and Oxford recently.
Certainly since Rafa Benitez took charge of the club we have looked a lot more solid defensively, and we do play as a team without any egos or stand-out individuals.
Bruce has continued to rely on the defensive core of the squad and it has worked for us this season. We have not been on the receiving end of too many pastings over the past couple of years and that is something the players deserve credit for.
Long gone are the days of Pardew, Carver and McClaren when if we went 1-0 down, you would fully expect us to lose by 3 or 4.
