As we look to end the season as strongly as possible, Rafa Benitez must continue to place his faith in Jonjo Shelvey, having handed the former England international his first start in close to six months when we drew 1-1 with Brighton.
Before our trip to the Amex at the weekend, Shelvey had not featured in a starting line-up since we beat Watford 2-1 in November, and has been forced to play a bit-part role off the bench ever since.
Not being able to play regularly destroyed the Romford-born midfielder’s morale, and he has now revealed to the Mirror that he feared another start many never come.
Now, the 27-year-old is intent on remaining in the boss’ plans as we prepare to face his – and Benitez’s – former side Liverpool, and prove that he has a future at St James’ Park, even though the doubters have tipped him for a £20million summer move.
“Hand on my heart, I didn’t think I’d start [again] this season,” Shelvey said. “That’s the impression I was getting because the team were doing so well and it’s hard to get in; I haven’t really been given the opportunities.
“I was glad to start at Brighton. I found out the team on Friday and spoke to the family straight away to tell them I was going to be playing.
“Six months is a long time without starting a game. It’s hard to start a game after six months – it’s not as easy as people think. But I think I did reasonably well. I just want to try and maintain my place for the following week.
“I have been very, very down, because you want to play football. You can take all the money away, because at the end of the day all you want to do is play football.
“I know what I can do, the club know what I can do, and the manager knows what I can do. We will see what happens. People say that I have not got a future at this football club, I don’t listen to it.
“We just have to keep pushing now, go back to the training pitch and work on what we’ve done wrong today and prepare for a massive game against Liverpool.
“We felt totally in control in the first half – I’ve never had so many touches of a football in a game in my life, to be fair, so it was a good game to come back into, but one that we’re coming away disappointed from.”
Before being brought off in the 74th minute for Ku Sung-Yeung, Shelvey managed 70 touches against Brighton – something only Fabian Schar and Isaac Hayden were able to better.
The 27-year-old also managed to make solid use on his time in possession to play 47 accurate passes, and successfully attempted his only dribble of the game. Moreover, Shelvey won each of his aerial duels and tackles, and fashioned the most efforts on goal of any Magpies player.