Newcastle United kicked off the Sela Weekender with a thumping 4-0 win over Girona; the in-form La Liga side who finished third in the Spanish top flight last season.
Sean Longstaff opened the scoring at St James’ Park just three minutes in, Jacob Murphy bagged his fifth of pre-season, Anthony Gordon scored on his first start of the summer and Longstaff grabbed another before the break, with the electric Alexander Isak also having a penalty saved that he did so well to win in an utterly one-sided first 45 minutes.
The second half was more competitive – which was probably just as well – and saw teenage talent Trevan Sanusi feature, showing more flashes of promise after cameos in each of our previous three friendlies in Hull and Japan.
As expected, the squad was a mix of young and old – a completely different XI is set to start tomorrow’s 4pm clash with Stade Brest – and featured the return of Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak up top, Joelinton in midfield and top young talents Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento at full-back with Nick Pope in goal. It was also a big moment for Jamie Miley, as Lewis’ older brother was handed his first senior start in front of 31,958 at St James’ Park:
NUFC XI: Pope – Livramento, Krafth, Burn (c), Hall – J. Miley, Joelinton, Longstaff – Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
SUBS: Ruddy, Gillespie, Heffernan, Parkinson, Stanton, Harrison, Hernes, Munda, Sanusi, Shahar.
The likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Joe Willock, Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Lloyd Kelly, Miguel Almiron, Harvey Barnes, Odysseas Vlachodimos and new signing Will Osula missed out, suggesting they’ll play tomorrow. The bench featured U21 talents Trevan Sanusi, Leo Shahar and Alfie Harrison, with veteran goalkeeper John Ruddy also in the squad as he waits for his first appearance since arriving on a free transfer this summer.
Sandro Tonali (ineligible) missed out once again along with Callum Wilson (back), Lewis Miley (foot), Sven Botman (ACL), Jamaal Lascelles (ACL),…
Author : Olly Hawkins
Publish date : 2024-08-09 20:21:53
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Author : soccernews
Publish date : 2024-08-09 20:27:44
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.