Steve Bruce reveals why he left Jonjo Shelvey out of his Newcastle United team

Shelvey – who had been captaining the team in the absence of Jamaal Lascelles – missed last night’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium with a groin problem.

“Jonjo’s recovered from a groin injury, and I still don’t think he’s right,” said head coach Steve Bruce. “He was complaining. He played four games in 10 or 11 days, which was arguably too much, through necessity. So we’ll have to try and see if we can get him ready.”

Bruce, meanwhile, felt that his team responded to the club’s 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Brentford.

“We gave the ball away in a poor area (for the second goal), and if you do that against a top team you get punished,” said Bruce. “But I wanted us to respond from a poor showing – and I’m pleased they did that.”