This is 'irrelevant' to Matty Longstaff at Newcastle United

Matty Longstaff says his Old Trafford goal was “irrelevant” – as Newcastle United lost.
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Longstaff, handed his first Premier League start in almost two months, scored in yesterday’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester United.

The 19-year-old’s strike put Newcastle ahead, but the home side fought back and took advantage of a series of individual errors.

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It was a bittersweet afternoon for Longstaff, who had also memorably scored in the fixture between the two sides at St James’s Park in October.

Matty Longstaff.Matty Longstaff.
Matty Longstaff.

“I can’t remember much (about the goal), and, to be honest, I think when you get beat 4-1 it’s pretty irrelevant,” said Longstaff. “We need to keep picking up points and moving up the league, and we haven’t done that, so we’re disappointed.

“The first 30 minutes, we were pretty solid and 1-0 up, but the mistakes have killed us, and 3-1 down at half-time was a bit of a mountain to climb.

“It’s never easy being 3-1 or 4-1 down against Man United at Old Trafford. For the last 30 minutes, we were pretty resilient. That’s a bit of a positive, but losing 4-1 isn’t great.”

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“Obviously, you know it’s going to be tough playing Man United, but at the end of the day I’m a young kid and I want to play as much as I can,” said he said. “I got to play, but I’m disappointed with the way things turned out.”

Bruce is likely to recall Jonjo Shelvey and Isaac Hayden to his starting XI for tomorrow’s home game against Everton.

“For us, it’s a bit of a positive that we can turn it round in 48 hours with a performance against Everton,” said Longstaff.

Longstaff hopes to play more over the coming weeks.

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“I guess that’s football, really,” he said. “When they keep winning, you can’t do much about it. You want to play as much as possible, but you’ve got to bide your time. Hopefully we’ll go back on another run like we were before.”