On loan goalkeeper Matz Sels has spoken out about the lack of game his former team mate Chancel Mbemba is getting at the club.
The Belgian stopper is currently out on loan at Anderlecht for the rest of the season, but that hasn’t stopped him commenting about affairs at his parent club. He told SportFoot (translated by the Chronicle):
“For me, he’s one of the best defenders at Newcastle United. Why does he play so little? I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.”
Here is some of the reaction to the comments among fans on Twitter:
Could it be that Lascelles, Clark and Lejeune are all better than him?#JustAThought
— Sir Murray Wagstaff (@murray_wagstaff) April 19, 2018
Rafa knows best. There are 3 players ahead of him. I havent seen #nufc ever be as solid at the back as they are now and i'm 42.
— DeKuip02 #FBPE (@DeKuip02) April 19, 2018
… because he's not as good as those starting ahead of him? Funny old game, football
— Shaun2.0 (@purerantage) April 19, 2018
I almost forgot that we had mbemba.
— Fitz Naw ? (@fitznaw) April 19, 2018
Probably the same reason he doesn't get games, we have better players for the position.
— Danny Brown (@DannyBroooon) April 19, 2018
Matz Sels is like the modern day equivalent of when we signed Dave Beasant, he needs to pipe down and worry about his own form or shall I say lack of it #nufc
— John (@baldy_john) April 19, 2018
Who asked? ?
— Steven (@StevieBee86) April 19, 2018
I reckon he’s lazy in training personally
— NUFC_UPDATE (@NUFC_UPDATE) April 18, 2018
but tbh we have two better cbs atm i belive mbemba will be sold in summer imo
— Dean Dodds (@doddsy1991) April 18, 2018
Verdict:
The fact is Jamaal Lascelles and Florian Lejeune have struck up an excellent partnership in the middle of the defence over the past seven games. In that time, we have conceded six goals.
Prior to that, Chancel could have had a case for playing more with the Frenchman sidelined, but I trust Rafa’s judgement that Ciaran Clark was the man to be given the chance to partner our captain in defence.