Toon legend Alan Shearer has heaped praise on midfielder Sean Longstaff, labelling him as man of the match for his impressive performance in our 1-0 victory over Fulham.
Shearer believes that the academy graduate has been ‘unfairly’ underrated this season despite some ‘superb performances, feeling he can become an ‘unbelievable midfielder’ if his finishing improves.
The 25-year-old has been something of a scapegoat in recent weeks for some big misses against Leeds and Leicester, but when he was needed most following Bruno’s injury, he stepped up and played a crucial role.
After Bruno went off at half-time, the North Shields-born midfielder slotted into that No 6 position perfectly, kept the ball moving well, was efficient in winning it back and key to creating Isak’s late winner thanks to his lovely back-post cross to Callum Wilson.
Speaking on Match of The Day 2, Shearer had this to say on the performance, the flat atmosphere and Longstaff’s performance:
“They played really, really well Fulham and made it difficult. I thought it was always going to be difficult after midweek on the high they were in, the atmosphere was amazing. But, then you were back to reality a little bit today.
“Eve the crowd were a little bit quieter than they normally were, but we’ve spoken about Almiron, we’ve spoken about Joelinton and Schar and the improvement that Eddie Howe has made in these players. But I think someone who has gone under the radar, perhaps unfairly, is Sean Longstaff.
“His performance today and a lot of this season has been superb. I thought he controlled a lot of it today, he does this very well [runs into the box from deep], if he could just work on his finishing a little bit, that’s a fantastic challenge but he gets into so many good positions, then it would be a different story.
“He doesn’t half do his bit for the team and winning the ball back. That’s the good thing that I like about him, a lot of the time, he actually plays the ball forward.
“His first thought is [to go forward] and it makes the job for a forward easier. He wins the ball back here with a simple header, but it then puts Newcastle and Callum Wilson on the front foot and they get an opportunity from that.
“His role changed in the second-half because Bruno went off, he moved from the right side into the centre and he did a really good job. I mentioned about forward passing, that’s what he did really well, in terms of keeping the ball and really pinging it into forward players. He broke that midfield line and you’re into the back line.
“For a forward it makes your job easier when you’ve got someone prepared to do that, a midfielder who can do that. This is an unbelievable cross [for the winner] late into the game, that wins it, good ball, Callum Wilson keeps it alive and Isak gets his goal. What a really good performance.
“This will be no surprise to the Newcastle fans [11.1km covered by Longstaff against Fulham] because they see that. They see his energy, determination, that’s a regular. They see most games he runs a lot more than anyone else. The grass that he covers is incredible.”
