Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar has admitted that he teases teammate Jamaal Lascelles about the number of bookings he has this season despite barely playing.
The Toon skipper has been on the fringes throughout the current campaign, making just four starts in all competitions. Only one of them came in the Premier League, when he started at centre-back in the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in August.
But while Lascelles has rarely featured, he has still been an influential figure both on and off the pitch. The 29-year-old has been praised by Schar for his leaderships skills – something Eddie Howe has also acknowledged.
And even when he hasn’t been in the team, he has still been able to have an impact on the game. Although he has crossed the line with the officials on more than one occasion.
Lascelles has been booked three times in the Premier League this season. One came in the aforementioned match with Liverpool, while the other two were against Chelsea and Arsenal. But the funny thing about those games is that Lascelles wasn’t even on the pitch.
The defender has been booked twice this season whilst warming up in the dying stages of the game before clashing with an opponent. What made the yellow card against Chelsea even funnier was that he had no reason to warm up as Howe had already used up all of his substitutions.
Fabian Schar admits he has been teasing Jamaal Lascelles
Schar has been speaking to the Telegraph, and commented on Lascelles’ ability as a leader, as well as those yellow cards he picked up earlier in the season.
“The way he [Lascelles] behaves in the dressing room, the support he shows for the lads, he is an unbelievable team man. He is very important behind the scenes,” he said.
“I do tease him a bit. How the hell has he been booked twice when he has not even been in the team? You’ll have to ask him why he does that on the touchline, I’m not sure why he does that.”
Lascelles doing all he can to help
While he isn’t playing, Lascelles is doing all he can to help the team this season.
Warming up late in the game to cheer on his teammates, pass on instructions and disrupt the opposition has certainly made a difference. We beat Chelsea the first time he did it, then we got a valuable draw away at Arsenal. Both bookings were absolutely worth it.
It is excellent to hear that Lascelles is such an important figure despite his reduced role. That is a testament to him as a person.
He is an excellent captain of Newcastle United, but his time at the club could soon be coming to an end. It has been reported that the club will listen to offers for him this summer.