Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has opened up on Steve Bruce’s tactics in the 3-2 victory against West Ham United.
The England international returned to the side for the trip to the London Stadium and scored the third goal from distance as his freekick beat the scrambling Roberto in the Hammers’ goal.
Shelvey revealed that Bruce told his side that their opposition likes to play a high line and that they could exploit that with their pace around the physical Joelinton.
“We know that Pellegrini’s teams like to play a high line,” he told NUFC TV.
“The gaffer spoke about it before.
“They (West Ham) always struggle with runners from deep and we worked on it in training and it paid off.”
Newcastle also utilised their aerial presence from set-pieces, with their first two goals from Ciaran Clark and Federico Fernandez coming from dead-ball situations.
OPINION
The Magpies were nothing short of phenomenal in the 3-2 victory on Saturday, and they should have made it a lot more comfortable with the number of chances they had. Newcastle’s pace in the final third was just way too much for the Hammers, with the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron exceptional at getting in behind their men throughout the contest. Joelinton had one of his best games since arriving at the club in the summer, and his physicality meant that he could bully the likes of Issa Diop. The domination of Newcastle’s front three meant that they won plenty of free-kicks which they could then take further advantage of in the game. Bruce has been questioned at times this season if he is tactically aware enough for the Premier League, and if his system can work, and the win over West Ham certainly proved that they are more than capable of achieving a high finish this season.
