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Fighting talk from Jonjo Shelvey as he makes his way back

5 years ago
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Jonjo Shelvey was a teenager the last time he played so little league football.

The last start he made for Newcastle was against Watford on 3 November, over 18 weeks ago, when he was forced off through injury.

The last time he even got off the bench was over nine weeks ago, in the 1-1 draw with Blackburn in the FA Cup.

In that FA Cup game Jonjo Shelvey came on and hit some sublime passes, on Saturday he came on and helped inspire an even bigger transformation.

Everton had retreated towards their own goal by the time Shelvey appeared in the 79th minute, denying much space, but nevertheless he helped drive them forward to those two late goals to win the game.

Only eight Premier League starts so far this season and the midfielder admits he isn’t a good watcher.

Jonjo Shelvey revealing: ‘I have been training on a Saturday and then coming over to watch the game, it’s horrible, you just end up eating loads of food in the box!’

The injury to Sean Longstaff and Ki Sung-yeung’s poor performance against Everton, could have just propelled Shelvey back into the starting eleven at Bournemouth next Saturday.

A lot of other players have improved with the increased competition for places in recent months, interesting to see what Jonjo Shelvey can produce when/if getting the opportunity.

Jonjo Shelvey talking to NUFC TV:

“People have been saying my future is finished, [that] I have got no career, so it was [good] just to shut people up really.

“Those who have said I have not got a future at the club, they can watch that [sub appearance against Everton] and eat their words now.

“I only played 15 minutes there but it is a start.

“I am happy to be back in the squad as I have had to wait my chance, my turn.

“I have been training on a Saturday and then coming over to watch the game, it’s horrible, you just end up eating loads of food in the box!

“I’m just glad to be back out there, back helping my team.

“My aim is to get back into the starting 11 but can only do that be getting the appearances in, showing the manager what I can do.

“It was good to come on at 2-1 down and to end up winning the game…it’s magnificent.

“It’s credit to the lads who have that never say die attitude and we have just proved it out there to everyone.

“When I was warming up I was watching the game and thinking about where I could get on the ball, where we could hurt them.

“I don’t think we probably played enough balls behind them.

“I think Fab [Schar played one to Ayoze [Perez] in the first half and we nearly scored.

“So I thought that this was the key to get back into the game.

“I didn’t know how long was left but Ayoze went on to get two great goals and it takes a bit of pressure off going into next week [away at Bournemouth].

“There was anger from the players…but you know what the manager is like, he is very calm and collected, he tries to rub that off onto us.

“The lads got together and said we need to buck our ideas up and I thought the way we played in the second-half, we deserved the win.”

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