Sean Longstaff admits £40m Newcastle teammate did ‘really well’ against Sunderland yesterday

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Sean Longstaff has admitted that one Newcastle United player really stood out to him in the victory against Sunderland.

Newcastle’s midfield proved to have too much quality for Sunderland to deal with yesterday as the Magpies ran riot at the Stadium of Light.

In an interview with NUFCTV, Longstaff revealed how it was Joelinton who had impressed him the most with his dominant first-half display before being brought off.

Longstaff says Joelinton did ‘really well’ against Sunderland

It was thanks to Joelinton that Newcastle were able to break the deadlock against Sunderland as the Brazilian went on one of his driving runs into the box before firing the ball across the goal.

Though Alexander Isak was there to tap home, it was Sunderland defender Dan Ballard who netted the opening goal for Newcastle, and it was all of Joelinton’s hard work which gave the defender almost no choice.

The 27-year-old was a huge physical presence in the middle of the pitch, something Newcastle massively missed in games against Chelsea and Luton, and was absolute quality on the ball.

Both he and Bruno Guimaraes were at the top of their game as the opposition just could not get the ball off of them to stop the relentless Newcastle attacks that eventually proved too much for Michael Beale’s side.

After the game, Longstaff said: “Joey and Bruno combined really well and Joey had done really well I thought in the first half.”

Joelinton will be huge for Newcastle’s season

Now that Newcastle are competing in just two competitions and will go back to largely playing one game a week, getting players back to full fitness is going to be absolutely key for the second half of the season.

Players like Joelinton, who are so important at both the defensive and attacking ends, are going to be huge if Newcastle are to turn this season around and climb back up the Premier League table.

Unfortunately for Eddie Howe, the Brazilian international was forced off in the second half after picking up a knock to his thigh in the first 45 minutes.

Though they’re not yet sure how bad the injury is, there is obvious concern that they could again lose one of their top midfielders after only just returning from his last issue.