I mentioned Joelintons ability to win possession in my Joelinton to midfield thread.... now the side has ball winners all over the pitch.
Willock and Longstaff are often unsung heroes, more so Longstaff. Think as a player he has improved immensely. For me, he does that job that you don't see people talk about often, he is box to box, finding space in the attack and the defence phases, linking up play, trying dangerous through balls, sometimes he crosses and grabs an assist, but he is always contributing. He's also tough, he can take a tackle or two and doesn't crack under pressure. In fact, time for an avi change perhaps
Longstaff has proved me wrong that's for sure, but I still think he'll be the 1st midfield replaced this summer. If he could add goals he'd be a top player but unfortunately he seems to be completely useless in that area.
We only have 4/6 CM's so he definitely wont be being replaced anytime soon. Add to that you need 4 Homegrown players in your 25 man squad for CL. Longstaff will be first name on the CL squad list, not sure if Dan Burn counts as I believe its players trained at the club from 15-21 for at least 3 years in that time. Anderson will count next year I think if not the year after but if not this year he doesn't need to be registered anyway. European squad MUST look something like this: * - Nationally trained player (8 minimum) ** - Homegrown player (4 minimum (included as a nationally trained also)) U21's don't need to be registered 1 - Pope * 2 - Trippier * 3 - Burn * 4 - Schar 5 - Botman 6 - Bruno 7 - Joelinton 8 - Willock * 9 - Wilson * 10 - Saint Maximium 11 - Almiron 12 - Dubravka 13 - Manquillo 14 - Targett * 15 - Lacselles * 16 - CB 17 - Longstaff ** 18 - CM 19 - CM 20 - Murphy * 21 - Gordon * 22 - Isak 23 - Anderson ** 24 - Homegrown at club 25 - Homegrown at club
The above got me thinking about any potential player returns to pad out the squad if needed: So far I have Paul Dummett Matty Longstaff Adam Armstong Kevin Mbabu Harris Vuckic Andy Carroll Sammy Ameobi Freddie Woodman James Milner (?) Callum Roberts Rolando Aarons One I got excited about was Ivan Toney but think he missed out on eligibility by 6 months...Milner I can't figure out but potentially! Can anyone think of anyone else who'd be of any use? Would you take any of the above?
"Newcastle United are the first Premier League side this season to have four players make 9+ successful ball recoveries in a single game." To recover the ball means we must have lost the ball in the first place surely ?
