Fabian Schar has been given little chance to prove himself at Newcastle this season, but fans were impressed with his performance against Watford on Saturday.
The Swiss defender has rarely been seen in a Newcastle United shirt since signing in the summer.
His only previous Premier League action had come against Chelsea early in the season and it was an unfortunate performance for the defender.
Despite confidently keeping out The Blues for 75 minutes, he was unlucky to concede a penalty after a sliding challenge on Marcos Alonso.
It was a harsh decision from the referee and many questioned whether it was actually a foul.
MORE NEWCASTLE STORIES
He was substituted minutes later and has not played in the league since.
But the defender seized his chance on Saturday after an injury to Jamaal Lascelles at the end of the first-half.
Coming on in place of the captain after the break, Schar put in a confident display which helped guide the Toon to their first win of the season.
Schar vs Watford
The centre-back looked very composed alongside Federico Fernandez and helped keep Watford at bay for 45 minutes.
It felt a far more stable performance from Newcastle as a whole with the Swiss international on the pitch. In the first-half, the Toon had been overran by Watford’s attack, but The Hornets were unable to have the same effect in the second.
He won countless headers, and put in excellent challenges when needed.
However Schar’s main quality was that he looked comfortable on the ball and happy to play it out of defence.
Newcastle have missed Florian Lejeune this season and have really lacked a ball-playing centre-back.
Schar proved that he can fulfil this role.
His direct forward passes started attacks and he wasn’t afraid to drive forward into the midfield himself on the odd occasion.
Fans certainly gave high praise, many acknowledging the headache Rafa Benitez will now have when choosing a starting centre-back pair.
Fans praise Schar performance
