Jamaal Lascelles has admitted that he wasn’t at his best earlier in the season.
The Newcastle captain has always been honest and his assessment of his form this season has been no different.
(Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United)
“Maybe the first half of the season, on a personal level, it wasn’t my best,” he told the Chronicle.
“Some games I did well, some games not as well, so maybe I should have been a bit more consistent.
“But I think I’ve found in the last few months performances have started to pick up.”
That seems a fair assessment, and is probably true for a lot of his teammates too. Newcastle struggled in the first half of the season, but in 2019 the team have been a real joy to watch.
Honesty is the best policy for Lascelles
After being named the club’s player of the season last year, Lascelles did initially struggle. He wasn’t the dominant defender that he had been.
(Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)
But since Rafa Benitez changed the system and Lascelles took residency in the centre of a back five, he’s been much more solid.
It’s a system that has got the best out of the skipper. For the most part, he’s been alongside Fabian Schar and Florian Lejeune, two players who are great on the ball. That has took the pressure off Lascelles, whose sole job has been to defend rather than start attacks as well.
And you have to appreciate his honesty. That’s one thing that Lascelles has always been since becoming a Newcastle player.
It’s what endeared him to the Newcastle faithful to begin with, as he called out the mercenary players who were letting the club down prior to relegation in 2016.
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Since taking the captain’s armband, Lascelles has always left everything on the pitch and continues to put his body on the line.
He might not be as flash as Schar or as classy as Lejeune, but Lascelles is just as important.