An ugly win away at Fulham has put Newcastle United back in the running for getting into the Europe League next season.
It may not be the more glamorous Champions League ties for Newcastle United that potentially await and instead of Paris or Milan, it could be somewhere like Nice or Rome in the Europa League next time around, however, that will still do nicely for me.
It’s been a difficult season and a learning curve for all involved at Newcastle United.
It has been frustrating on the injury front and inconsistent performances over the season have seen us go from last season’s fourth to eighth at the moment.
This win at Fulham though, shows there’s still plenty of character and spirit in the group, there’s life left in them yet.
There’s been a lot of criticism and questions have been asked about the management and certain players in the squad, but as far as I’m concerned, the unity, the commitment, the spirit of the group, cannot be questioned.
Players like Dan Burn and Sean Longstaff have been slammed by some and got the brunt end of criticism on a weekly basis by certain sections of the fanbase. Are they world beaters? No, but I tell you what, the pair of them are as reliable and committed as they come and whether people rate them or not, we need them. Without Sean Longstaff in particular in midfield, who admittedly hasn’t played as well as last season , we’d have been stuffed altogether in midfield.
Bruno Guimaraes is our best midfielder and arguably the best player at the club, but it’s only Bruno and Sean that have been reliable for us all season, when it comes to being fit and available. There are more talented midfielders than Sean at the club, that I’d agree with most fans, but the nonsense that certain people come out with that he is useless and he needs to be sold ASAP… I’m sorry, but where are all these better midfielders? Constantly injured or in Sandro Tonali’s case, banned before he even really got going in black and white.
Yet Sean Longstaff gets slammed despite being one of the few to last the season to date, two seasons I may add available for almost all of that time (Played in 61 of the 69 Premier League matches in that time).
That should be respected and I’m sure it is by Eddie Howe and his staff, the players as well behind the scenes.
Anyway, that’s enough about Sean Longstaff.
A lot hasn’t gone to plan this season and there’s a limited amount left we can achieve, but I’d absolutely love it, if we finished above Man U and nicked Europe League away from them.
I think we are capable of doing just about enough with our stretched squad and they have some difficult fixtures left to play with title chasing Arsenal and Liverpool at Old Trafford, plus of course Europe chasing Newcastle United.
Let’s catch Manchester United and win the Europa league next season!
Comments welcome.