Skipper Jamaal Lascelles says Newcastle “set our standard” in Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United and has stressed they must try to maintain that level of performance.
A strike on his Premier League debut from 19-year-old Matty Longstaff, who was playing alongside his older brother Sean in midfield, secured what was only the Tyneside outfit’s second win of the season.
A week on from being thrashed 5-0 at Leicester, Steve Bruce’s men moved out of the relegation zone, up to 16th place, with the result at St James’ Park.
Lascelles told nufc.co.uk: “The manager made a few changes; we know how hard a job it is for a manager to drop players and put players on the bench, but he’s put Matty Longstaff in there, added Ciaran (Clark) to the team and obviously Allan (Saint-Maximin) was back in the team, so a few new faces who haven’t really featured this season and they did a great job.
“It was a fantastic debut for Matty – you couldn’t write it – and I was pleased for him and his brother that they were playing together. All over the team, we were enthusiastic, energetic, in their faces. We’ve set our standard now and that’s how we always need to play. Nothing less.”
Lascelles, who had issued an apology on behalf of the players after the Leicester game, said of Newcastle supporters: “They travelled down there (to Leicester) to watch us play and we lost 5-0 so we do feel for the fans when things like that happen.
“It’s nice to bounce back and get a result for them. The atmosphere was great on Sunday, they were behind us for the whole game, and it makes a big difference when they do that. We’re very thankful for that and we’re just glad that we gave them three points.
“We rolled our sleeves up and we got a big reaction. That’s exactly what we needed, so it’s been a really good week.”
The defender added: “We’ll enjoy this little international break and after that, we’ll start planning for another big game at Chelsea (on October 19).
“I think momentum is a big thing in football but I think a little break won’t do us any harm and we can refresh but still knowing that we’ve just beaten Man U, and we’re still on a high from that, so hopefully we can go into the Chelsea game full of confidence.”
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