Some Newcastle United fans took to social media to share their thoughts on Steve Bruce’s decision making after the Toon boss opted to start Jonjo Shelvey over Matty Longstaff against West Ham on Saturday.
Longstaff had started the Magpies’ previous three Premier League fixtures against Manchester United, Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers, but fell to the bench for his side’s trip to East London.
Shelvey, meanwhile, had not featured in the starting line-up since the North East outfit were held to a goalless draw by Brighton & Hove Albion, with his only outing since the Seagulls clash coming as a late substitute against Wolves.
Take a trip down memory lane to a time when Newcastle were giants on the European stage in the video below…
Bruce had to make changes to his midfield to face West Ham, though, as he was without Sean Longstaff after the 22-year-old was issued a three-game ban for his red card issued against Nuno Espirito Santo’s Molineux natives.
The returning Isaac Hayden, who had served a three-game ban for his red card shown against Leicester City, replaced the 22-year-old. Bruce also opting for Shelvey over the younger of the Longstaff brothers caused some uproar on social media, though.
Longstaff had been one of Newcastle’s better-performing players against Wolves last week, when the Toon product consistently called for the ball and picked out a couple of incisive passes, earning a 7/10 rating from Chronicle Live.
Shelvey, on the other hand, featured for just five minutes after drawing with Brighton.
So when Newcastle shared that Bruce had opted for a midfield partnership of Hayden and Shelvey against West Ham, these were some of the reactions…