Steve Bruce made a brave move to bench Allan Saint-Maximin for the important home clash with Burnley.
The Magpies took on the Clarets with Matt Ritchie, Dwight Gayle, Javier Manquillo and Jonjo Shelvey restored to the starting XI.
Bruce dropped Sean Longstaff and Nabil Bentaleb to the bench and there was no place at all for Matty Longstaff on the sidelines.
With Ciaran Clark ruled out for the season, Fedrerico Fernandez has his chance to stake his claim in the starting line-up between now and May.Bruce said before the game: "We haven't created enough and done enough.
"We were a threat on the counter attack; I think that's waned over the last few weeks so we have to maybe try something different and see if we can create more chances and score more goals."
Before the game, Bruce had hinted at changes: "The hardest part is you can only pick 11, the other ten will be disappointed.
“You hope you pick right.
“Most understand, without the squad we would not have survived this year without the squad.
“If you don’t play on a Saturday . . . I expect half a dozen of them not be happy.”
UNITED: Dubravka, Manquillo, Fernandez, Lascelles, Rose, Hayden, Shelvey, Ritchie, Almiron, Joelinton, Gayle
Subs: Darlow, Schar, Lejeune, Yedlin, S Longstaff, Bentaleb, Saint-Maximin
