Former England international Danny Murphy has heaped praise on Newcastle United’s central midfield duo Matty and Sean Longstaff after their performances against Manchester United on Sunday.
The duo started alongside each other in the Premier League for the first time, and Matty proceeded to make his league debut by smashing home the game’s only goal.
Murphy was very impressed: “He [Matty] must be floating today,” he said on talkSPORT [07/10; 10:52]. “Pair of them, you know, pair of them as well.
“Both played well.”
OPINION
There’s no doubt that the two Longstaff brothers were the class of Newcastle’s victory over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side. It’s been a pretty rough start to the season for Sean, who has struggled to hit the unbelievable heights he scaled last term. However, the introduction of his younger brother on Sunday seemed to rejuvenate him. Suddenly he was dictating the tempo of the game as he did last campaign, while Matty hared about frantically, winning the ball back and launching balls forward. And it was only fitting that the 19-year-old scored the winner with a stunning strike. Sean was superb, as well, though. As per WhoScored.com, the 21-year-old completed 29 passes with a success rate of 89.7% bettered only by 89th minute substitution Emil Krafth in a black and white shirt. Meanwhile he produced four key passes, four crosses and three long balls forward. For Matty, it was one key pass, one cross and seven long balls forward. These two were scintillating at St James’ Park, make no mistake about it.
