Steve Bruce explains tactical change at Newcastle United – and Matty Longstaff decision
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Bruce, without a number of players due to injuries, moved defender Schar into midfield despite having fit-again Longstaff available.
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Hide AdUnited’s head coach has previously said that Longstaff’s contract situation – the 20-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and talks on a new deal are deadlocked – would not affect his selection.
Asked about his team selection, Bruce said: “Matty’s only been training for the last week. So I thought it was a big call for him as well to get him started.
"I wanted to have Fab Schar. He’s been playing in midfield in the training ground area, and I wanted to have a look at that. We could talk about formations and this, that and the other, and players playing where they were playing … I thought those two were arguably our best performers.
"Whatever we do, whichever way we play, we’ve got to show a bit more resilience than what we put up with. If you don’t do the basics right, they’re going to punish you.”
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Hide AdLoan players Valentino Lazaro, Nabil Bentaleb and Danny Rose all started against City.
“I’m not going to highlight just the loan players,” said Bruce. “We’re a team. The strength of this group has been the resilience. I’m not going to comment on the loan players – or any individual.”