What Sandro Tonali did towards the Newcastle fans as Eddie Howe ‘excited’ again

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It has been another eventful week for Sandro Tonali at Newcastle United.

There have long been questions as to why Eddie Howe hasn’t started the Italian international more regularly since Tonali returned from his ban earlier this season.

When the midfielder has played, there have been differing results – albeit that is surely down to the balance in the middle of the park more than anything personally to do with Tonali himself.

Indeed, there have been doubts as to whether or not the former AC Milan star really can play together with Newcastle‘s other star midfielder, Bruno Guimaraes.

Sometimes, the experiment just has not worked. On other occasions, it has.

Things certainly clicked for Tonali and Guimaraes, as well as fellow midfielder Joelinton, on Saturday.

Tonali again looked excellent as the deepest midfielder and the Newcastle United manager was delighted with Guimaraes for his display in the No.8 role during the 4-0 win over Leicester.

The game can only days after dubious reports in Italy suggested the midfielder was unhappy with life on Tyneside.

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Tonali’s agent quickly shut that down, though there have been claims he’s been frustrated about his lack of starts.

With that in mind, it’s interesting to see how much he seemingly enjoyed Newcastle’s first goal against Leicester on Saturday.

What Sandro Tonali did towards the Newcastle fans during win over Leicester

According to The Chronicle, Tonali turned towards the Gallowgate End and wildly shook his firsts in celebration after teammate Jacob Murphy had opened the scoring against the Foxes.

Howe, meanwhile, talked of his excitement about the midfield balance.

“He obviously plays the number six position very differently to Bruno, but is equally as effective,” he said.

“You have got two different ways of playing the position, but both are very good in different ways. He covered the ground really well. His athletic performance was very good and he’s just very intelligent with the ball.

“He makes good decisions. He definitely has come into the team in that position and given us a really good outlook. I’m excited by how the midfield three is looking.”

Sandro Tonali will surely get another chance to continue Newcastle experiment

With Joelinton suspended for the trip to Ipswich next weekend (he is available for Wednesday’s game against Brentford) due to having picked up five yellow cards for the season, it would be a major shock to see Tonali benched for the game at Portman Road.

Impressing from the off again would be some way to respond to recent rumours, as well as providing another great chance to build on his partnership with Guimaraes.