A number of Newcastle United supporters have been reacting with disdain to Gareth Southgate’s decision to call Lewis Dunk up to the England squad ahead of Jamaal Lascelles.
It was announced on Sunday that the Brighton & Hove Albion stalwart would be replacing Burnley’s James Tarkowski in the Three Lions squad after he suffered an injury.
Unsurprisingly the Magpies faithful have reacted negatively to Southgate’s continued refusal to acknowledge Lascelles, who is on a reported £40,000-per-week at St James’ Park [Source: Spotrac].
This is Futbol has rounded up the best tweets below.
Now it's Lewis Dunk who gets a call-up ahead of Lascelles. This is getting insane.
Southgate hates #NUFC so much.
— Marc Jobling (@MarcJobling) October 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/onlytooninciren/status/1049001591343370240
https://twitter.com/GeordieJacob7/status/1049007262243667974
Dunk called up to the England squad. Lascelles continues to be overlooked.
Why am I not surprised?
Also, name one current England midfielder who played better than Shelvey yesterday.
Anyone?
Guess it keeps them fit for us then. Their loss.— Steve Wallwork (@stevewallwork) October 7, 2018
Lewis Dunk called up to the England squad. Is he any better than Jamaal Lascelles?
— NUFC360 (@NUFC360) October 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/Adrian____29/status/1049001313785319429
https://twitter.com/robinnufc/status/1049023456988344320
https://twitter.com/TheAmeobi/status/1049041102005833729
I'll be honest I havent seen that much of Dunk so I wouldnt want to automatically say that Lascelles is better but given Jamaal's pretty consistent performances for us over the last couple of years I just cant believe he isnt getting a look in when you see who is.
— Toon Stew (@toonarmyblog) October 8, 2018
OPINION
Newcastle fans have been calling for Lascelles to get an England call up for over a year now so it’s not a surprise that they’ve reacted angrily to this news. The Magpies captain was immense for the club last campaign but he hasn’t quite been at that same level this term. He’s not been bad, just not up to the extremely high standard he set last time out. You can understand where the Newcastle fans are coming from, though, when someone like Dunk gets a call up ahead of Lascelles. Dunk is a decent Premier League defender, he’s proved that over the last year or so with Brighton, but by no means is he a top shelf centre half. Lascelles has shone far brighter over the time the pair have been in the top flight, so it is slightly bizarre that Southgate continues to ignore him. The Newcastle fans will continue banging the drum for their skipper but whether the Three Lions boss listens or not remains to be seen.
