I'll go 1st..... he's not good enough if Newcastle want to compete . I think he's doing quite well actually better than usual, but he's at the peak of his game and a better player is required. Longstaff should be kept however because he's proven me wrong and isn't completely useless. Mctomminay isn't the answer but the club is going to buy him
Along with Pope our most consistent performer and an important part of the team. Unfortunately he is not a game changer.
So would you see him needing to be replaced or do you see him holding that position for years to come?
Depends how quick we can buy better players. If he can keep up this level of work he can be a valuable squad member for a few more years.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he is replaced at the end of this season. Probably depends whether Guimares stays or goes to Real Madrid. We don’t have anyone else in the squad who does a similar job so would need a better version if we did replace him.
If we keep qualifying for Europe he’ll probably be needed in the squad as a home produced player for a few years yet but is a solid enough squad player to do that job
He is....okay. Puts in huge effort and is generally decent, however if we are trying to improve our team, he's the first one I'd seek an upgrade for.
Say it every time someone mentions him but he is an integral part of this squad and club for the next 5 years+. Local lad, happy to be involved and getting game time, he knows the score in regards to his position at the club and probably already understands he is 4th choice CM behind Bruno, Willock, Joelinton currently without another big money signing coming in. He will, however, go on to play 250-300 games for the club (127 so far) but probably mainly in the cups going forwards and in the league sporadically due to injuries etc, likely to be captaining the team a fair bit in the future also. Personally I think the lad is an unsung hero who works his nuts off for the team and the club and doesn't grumble when it doesn't go his way and he's still 25 and can develop further - god forbid he scores a goal to win a cup in the future - his detractors will be smited by many many screenshots.
He scored the goals that took us into our first final for 24 years, so he's already in our folklore to some extent already.
Exactly - currently he's probably just behind Shola Ameobi in NUFC folklore/history but instead of quibbling about his short comings - we all can see he is a box to box midfield engine but past that is quite limited in certain areas - learn to love the fact he's a local lad, living the local lads dream, could become a one club hero and be a big part of a team that start's really pushing the envelope to change the history of the club. Next name on the back of my shirt after Isak and probably Saint Maximin.
That's basically what he is now though, ie first choice midfield is Willock, Joelinton and Bruno; it's only cos those 3 have hardly ever all been for at the same time that he's played so much this season.
And Longstaff has definitely gone under a big transition under Howe, and the fact Joelinton has gone from dreadful to world class under Howe, overshadows this somewhat. Longstaff looked great when he arrived, but faded badly, and was bad for long periods under Bruce. However unlike his brother, he's managed to force his way back, to the point that he's now first choice, when most thought he'd be one of the first to go when the money came in.
I think if we want to compete regularly at the top of the table we will need to replace him in the 11.
Solid but unspectacular. I hope we don't get rid of players like this as I think that's exactly where Chelsea and currently going wrong (if they let Mount and Gallagher, etc go). He's the kind of player who, had we drifted into the yo-yo team mentality that Ashley was trying to instill, would have been "too good for the Championship but not good enough for the Premiership". Had we gone down would anyone have gone in with a decent bid for him? I'm not convinced they would have. He's improved and is now a solid and dependable mid-table player, that's fine. I'd usually give him a 6 or 7 out of 10 for most games - he's rarely markedly better or worse than that and I'm ok with it. He'll still be here in 5 years for sure. He's going to get at least 20 caps in Europe, no doubt... ok some doubt.
