Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff has claimed that his recent sending off against Wolverhampton Wanderers sums up his season.
The 22-year-old was dismissed for a tough tackle in the 1-1 draw at St James’ Park, and he believes the straight red was indicative of how his campaign has gone thus far.
“It’s football, isn’t it?” he told BBC Newcastle. “It’s one of those things that happens. I think no player’s going to go through his whole career without being sent off.
“Unfortunately for me it’s probably summed up my season so far, really, in terms of getting in, playing a few games, getting injured or getting suspended.”
OPINION
This season has certainly been a bit stop-start for Longstaff, but he would do better to refrain from the woe is me narrative he’s rolling out, here. Yes, he’s had the odd niggling injury and, yes, he’s picked up a suspension just when he was starting to find form once again. However, he’s only got himself to blame for not performing so far this campaign as well as he did last time out. The youngster hasn’t been dreadful, but he’s failed to hit the heights he scaled last term. The statistics prove as much. As per WhoScored.com, the Englishman is averaging one dispossession and 1.3 unsuccessful touches per game, while he is being dribbled past once per outing as well. Furthermore, his pass success rate is a relatively lowly 77.7% and his average WhoScored rating per game is a poor 6.52. So that’s not down to anything other than him not performing as well as he did last season. Still, he has the chance to work on his game while he’s suspended and then return to top form once he’s back.
