A slow start, but spirited final 15 minutes against Brendan Rodgers’ exciting Leicester sparked a mixed post-match response from Newcastle fans across social media.
Most fans, it must be said, are in the ‘half-empty’ camp. “The Longstaffs are too one paced and when Shelvey came on that was three of them too slow,” said Paul Guy.
Steve Roden agreed, adding “We were very, very poor. Yedlin was awful, his final ball was shocking.”
Timothy J Higgins went one further, suggesting only Isaac Hayden and Matty Longstaff are good enough to remain at the club out of the current midfield pool.
“I'd sooner Saivet had a chance than Hendrick, and Sean has seemingly forgotten how to play. Shelvey is far to inconsistent and can't run or tackle. It's been a problem area for ages," he wrote.
Elsewhere Andrew Devlin called for a creative attacking midfielder to be signed this month but added: “Doubt we will… we set up every game to play for a draw, it worked v Liverpool only because they missed a few sitters and Darlow made some class saves.”
Meanwhile, in the glass half-full camp, Billy Snook felt Bruce’s men played better, adding: “If Joelinton could have been swapped with ASM it would have been ever better.”
Arpit Mehrota was more positive than most on the impact of the Longstaffs in midfield, commenting: “they have been a spark and Schar had a wonderful game. Although we lost, I am satisfied with the effort.”
Other supporters at least appreciated United’s commitment levels against a vibrant Leicester side: “We'll always struggle despite the efforts of those involved, they're simply not strong enough.”
“I think Santa bought a lot of players a backbone”, joked Colin Metcalfe.
“Overall decent, but we will need to maintain that before I change my opinion of the manager.”
Two other glass half full fans pointed to the game’s final stages, when Newcastle upped their intent in the Leicester half.
“Good end to the game, need to put more effort into the first 75 minutes,” said Brian Hindmarsh.
While Paul Hollingsworth commented: “Would have been nice to see us play all game like we did the last 15 minutes, just shows we can take the game to teams but clearly being set up to not do that”.
