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Macdonald goes wild for Longstaff brothers

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Newcastle United legend Malcolm ‘Supermac’ Macdonald has heaped praise on Magpies midfield duo Matty and Sean Longstaff.

The Geordie brothers starred in the centre of midfield against Manchester United last weekend, with younger brother Matty scoring the game’s only goal.

Macdonald was very impressed: “Appropriately Matty scored the scorching winner from outside the penalty area and deservedly earned man of the match while elder brother Sean was back to his best,” he wrote in his column for The Chronicle. “The pair made Brazilian midfielder Fred look worth 52 pence rather than £52m.

“For me, Matty is a much better player than Isaac Hayden and he will make it difficult for Hayden to get back into the side when his suspension is over. Of course there will be a few ups and downs along the way – Matty is only 19 – but he is destined for the top as is his brother.”

OPINION

There’s no doubt that these two were the star men for Newcastle last time out. The Longstaff brothers are all the rage right now, and everyone’s getting very excited about their potential to be first team stars on Tyneside for many years to come. They dominated the Red Devils’ midfield, making expensive players like Fred look like they couldn’t string a few passes together, although that’s not too difficult to do in regards to that particular Brazilian. As for Macdonald’s Hayden comment, that’s a bit of a strange one. The teenage Longstaff has only played one game in the Premier League, yet he’s being held up as a superior player to someone who was one of the stars of last season for the Magpies. Look, the statistics show that both Longstaffs did a great job against United. It was Sean who kept things ticking along, with his pass success rate a tremendous 90.6% [Source: WhoScored.com]. Meanwhile Matty did the rampaging forward, knocking seven long balls forward with five of them finding their intended target. Sean, on the other hand, completed four key passes. Perhaps they give the side more balance than Hayden, but Steve Bruce won’t be putting too much pressure on Matty just yet.

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