Steve Bruce has admitted that Sean Longstaff has given him ‘food for thought’ after the player put in a stellar performance against Oxford United last night.
The Magpies overcame a scare to beat the League One side 3-2 after extra-time, with Longstaff hitting a rocket to break the deadlock between the two teams at 0-0.
The 22-year-old has been struggling a bit this season compared to the last, as many Newcastle fans will tell you. Despite the poor form, he has played 18 times in the Premier League this season, with 11 starts.
However, there was a slight change in position for former academy product – and it seemed to work wonders for the player.
The goal was a fantastic bit of link-up play from Joelinton who took a great first touch before laying it off to Longstaff, who dummied a shot a few times before waiting for the perfect moment to lash it beyond Simon Eastwood in the Us’ net.
Speaking after the match, the Newcastle boss spoke of how he thought that was his best performance of the season in a more attacking position.
Should Sean Longstaff play more advanced?
Nope, we have better players in that position
Definitely, he looks a different player there
It's worth a try; stick with it if it works
He said (via the Chronicle): “Today we gave him a bit of freedom and gave me food for thought because we know he can score a goal.
“We’ve seen that in training enough. We gave him that little bit of freedom and I think he enjoyed it and he put in his best performance of the season by a million miles.”
Bruce also went onto remind fans and journalists that the youngster did suffer a serious injury towards the end of the last campaign, and that has taken its toll on his performances this year.
“He had a serious knee injury towards the back end of last season. People tend to forget that. He’ll learn how to cope with that”, Bruce added.
There’s no doubt that Sean Longstaff looked far more accomplished in that more forward role while Nabil Bentaleb and his younger brother Matty Longstaff played behind him.
With the club now having a decent length rest until their next fixture with the introduction of the winter break, perhaps Bruce will be looking to see Longstaff play in that position a bit more in training as he prepares for Arsenal on February 16.