Newcastle United head into the international break in good spirits after victory over Manchester United.
Matty Longstaff capped off his Premier League debut with the only goal of the game, and handed Steve Bruce his first victory at home.
The three points took United to eight out of a possible 24, and up to 16th in the table. Speaking on the Everything is Black and White Podcast, Lee Ryder, Mark Douglas and Ciaran Kelly analysed the game.
'Newcastle could be a team to be feared' - Lee Ryder
“I always thought with Andy Carroll he will be a goal threat throughout, which he was against MUFC - he headed one over the bar which was unfortunate but he brings experience now and there’s not many players like him.
“It was just an old school pro drawing on the fouls, winning free-kicks, eating up the seconds when Newcastle needed and then there was that block at the end with the free kick.
“You add all them things up and it’s been a fantastic few weeks for him, gradually building up those minutes.
“When he is fully fit and up and running, Newcastle could be a team to be feared.”
'It felt like a football club again' - Mark Douglas
“It felt like a football club again today and you can say the atmosphere around the ground was was much better.
“The team just played like a Newcastle United team that we want watch.
“It felt a bit like the Liverpool game that I remember towards the end of last season.
“After what happened last week,you had long odds on us coming away and having such a feel good afternoon.
“I did think it was almost in some ways the perfect game for Newcastle because Man United were vulnerable, the crowd were going to be up for it, the players were going to be up for it.
“As bad as they were last week, I don’t think that’s a true reflection of how bad they are. Probably today’s maybe a little bit above the level that we’re going to expect every week.
“But yeah, really, really, really positive when and probably now you say eight points out from eight games is about part of what we expected this season.
“So they’ve gone there through ups and downs but yeah, you can kind of sleep a bit easier for the next few weeks.”
'It was just the right response' - Ciaran Kelly
"It was just the right response. After everything that happened last week, everything that was said was we had to see what these players are made of.
"To be fair to Bruce, he made some really big calls, five changes, putting a 19 year old in who'd never played in the Premier League before and he turns out to be man of the match, it couldn't have gone any better for Bruce.
"I think it's proof that you know, as much as he reverted back to Benitez blueprint, we did see the team play with a bit of attack intent at times, they knew when to press at the right times and there a lot of positives to take now going into an international break."
