With Brighton and Hove Albion being Newcastle United’s seventh loss of the Premier League campaign of 2018/19 and with the club slipping to the bottom of the top-flight table last Saturday, plenty of fans have been discussing the options available to manager Rafa Benitez as we look to turn our form around.
With a number of players clearly being off form and out of confidence given their own showings this year, a number of fans feel it’s time for the Spanish gaffer to bite the bullet and turn to our Academy graduates at the club.
Given their highly-rated nature but almost anonymous standing at the club, at least these fans seem happy enough to accept the youngsters will make mistakes given they are still developing, but their freshness and excitement at pulling on a senior shirt might be exactly the lift we need to turn games in our direction.
You might laugh but I would seriously consider giving the likes of Sean Longstaff, Cal Roberts, Adam Wilson and Elias Sorensen a shot at the first team.
They cannot do any worse than what we’ve seen so far this season. #NUFC
— NUFC 360 (@NUFC360) October 20, 2018
Rafa doesn't give youth a chance he'd rather play Joselu than try and do something different
— Mark (@Markn456) October 20, 2018
There’s nothing laughable about this. It’s a great shout
— m@tty (@mjwinning11) October 20, 2018
Absolute top tweet ????
— Stanley (@holdthehoss) October 20, 2018
Mate I agree totally
— Chris Cossey (@Cosseycj) October 20, 2018
Just been thinking the same
— mark NUFC choake ???? (@markchoake) October 21, 2018
I’m not laughing I’ve been saying it for weeks.
— Greener (@PRGre1974) October 21, 2018
Couldn't agree more about time at this club to try our young uns like old days
— Brian Robinson (@brobinson952) October 21, 2018
Whether they should be more prominent in the starting XI or simply a greater option on the substitutes bench is for each fan to answer themselves – but youthful exuberance can often bring its own reward in football and provide that spark that forces change – even for misfiring seniors.