Newcastle United’s wait for the first Premier League win of the season continued with a frustrating 1-1 draw away to Watford yesterday.
The point was enough for Newcastle to climb out of the relegation places and into 17th place which is ultimately all that Mike Ashley seems to be bothered about.
But on another day, Steve Bruce’s side could have handed the Hornets a hammering if they were more clinical in front of goal, but that didn’t prove to be the case yet again.
However, alongside Allan Saint-Maximin, Sean Longstaff was Newcastle’s star man and produced a dominant box-to-box display which was really encouraging.
Watford couldn’t stop Longstaff
Longstaff’s vicious long-range strike which Ben Foster couldn’t prevent from hitting the top left corner of his goal was his first Newcastle goal since the 4-1 victory against Bournemouth last July.
It was a timely reminder of the tremendous technical attributes the 23-year-old possesses and the growing confidence he is starting to build once again.
On last night’s Match of the Day, it was confirmed that Longstaff’s strike at Vicarage Road was his eight career goal outside the box.
Longstaff had a glorious chance to score his second and double Newcastle’s lead on the stroke of half-time.
But with Saint-Maximin’s pass a little behind him, a stretching Longstaff blazed his shot over the par.
Alongside teammate Joe Willock and Watford’s Emmanuel Dennis, Longstaff’s four shots on goal were the most in the match (WhoScored).
He also created one chance and only Matt Ritchie (71) and former Newcastle players Danny Rose (74) and Moussa Sissoko (72), had more touches than Longstaff in the match (55).
He completed 26 of his attempted 29 passes, which meant apart from Peter Etebo (90%), Longstaff had the best pass completion rate (89.7%) on the pitch.
The threat and worry Longstaff was posing for Watford was highlighted by the fact he was the most fouled player on the pitch alongside teammate Miguel Almiron (both fouled five times).
Longstaff’s all round box-to-box performance and contribution to the Newcastle team was equally impressive on the defensive side.
Only Willock (5) could better Longstaff’s four tackles and his ability to sense danger and to take pressure of his team was evident that he registered six clearances which was a tally only matched by Federico Fernandez.
Longstaff’s performance was his best in a Newcastle shirt for a long time, and although he’s going to have to go some way to rekindle the form that meant in July 2019, the Telegraph reported that Newcastle had quoted Manchester United £50million for him.
His return to form is encouraging and most-welcomed. Let’s hope he can continue to influence matches as he did to such devastating effect yesterday.
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