Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff has gushed over his brother Matty after his goalscoring performance against Manchester United.
The 19-year-old scored the game’s only goal on his Premier League debut as the Magpies overcame Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side last time out, and his big brother was very impressed by him.
“We both like to get after the ball and for me I think it was about not letting my brother down on this stage,” he told The Chronicle. “He was buzzing about it and buzzing about tackling people!
“There’s a reason why the manager has him up with us. He’s been brilliant in training every day. He has the quality and the composure. It’s great to see because he breeds confidence around the team. When it’s your brother makes it more special. To see that little smile on his face is unbelievable but he’s lit up the whole place.”
OPINION
The two Longstaff brothers absolutely ran the show against Man United and it was tremendous to see. The likes of Jonjo Shelvey and Ki Sung-yueng haven’t done enough this season, so Steve Bruce took a risk and went for the younger Longstaff alongside his big brother in the middle of the park. It’s interesting what Sean says about Matty impressing every day in training and his presence breeding confidence amongst the squad. In some respects, then, it’s bizarre that it took so long for Bruce to throw him in there, especially considering Newcastle haven’t exactly been playing well this campaign. But Matty was excellent against United, make no mistake about that. As per WhoScored.com, the teenager had 42 passes on the day, the most of any Newcastle player. Meanwhile, he knocked seven long balls forward to the attackers, with a solid five of them finding their intended target. He also completed a key pass and a cross, as well as scoring the goal. Let’s see if he can keep it up against Chelsea on Saturday.
