What has happened to Sean Longstaff? Newcastle star a shadow of the player he was tipped to be
Sean Longstaff no longer looks like the player we thought he was going to be for Newcastle United. The local lad who would become the heartbeat of the team appears to be a player who has lost far more than just form. He is danger of losing his way.
It has been a tumultuous 12 months for the older Longstaff brother and the strain is starting to show. Of all the players who disappointed against Oxford United, he was by far the worst. The mistakes were frequent, the misplaced passes numerous and his poor decision making a constant problem.
Longstaff, who only made his first-team debut a year ago, was outplayed and outmanoeuvred by a League One midfield. He looked slow without the ball and ponderous with it. The crowd saw it all.
Every time he gave possession away there were groans and, by the end, the 23 year-old looked out of his depth. The harder he tried, the worse things got, and throughout the ordeal he could hear the reaction in the stands.
They were starting to turn on one of their own. They do not mean to judge the local lads more severely on Tyneside, they truly want him to succeed, but these concerns have been growing for months, not weeks.
Ever since he was linked with a £25 million move to Manchester United in the summer, ever since his agent started demanding a second new contract in less than 12 months, with talk that he should be made one of the club’s top earners, Longstaff has not been the same.
Whether he is annoyed, distracted or unsettled, nobody is clear, but he should have fully recovered from the knee injury he picked up at the end of last season by now. He should be better than this. That is what makes it so difficult to watch.
There was a moment in the second half against Oxford when Longstaff looked over at the Newcastle bench and there was hurt in his eyes. Whether he was looking at his younger brother, Matty, or manager Steve Bruce is unknown, but it was a haunted, appealing look, as if he was keen to be hooked, substituted and spared any more of this ordeal. Bruce kept him on regardless.
Red in the face, his hair knotted with sweat, there was no lack of effort, no going through the motions. He just could not get to grips with either the game or himself.
His passing has fallen to pieces, his confidence looks shot and his decision making is scrambled. His first instinct when he gets the ball is to go backwards, the safety-first option. When he does look forward, there is always an extra touch, the move slows down. Oxford began to target him. When he got the ball, they pressed, looking to force the mistake.
More often than not he made one, repeatedly losing possession or his bearings. It was a performance full of glitches and errors and it is not the first time it has happened.
To single out one of the young players in a collective display of ineptitude from the team may seem unfair, but Longstaff can either wilt or thrive under such levels of scrutiny. Newcastle are not an easy team to play for and he is in danger of being chewed up and spat out.
Any thoughts he had about getting a move to Manchester need to be dismissed, because even a club with as poor a recruitment record as United could not possibly think he is worth £25m on current form.
Longstaff is not the first player to find his second season harder than the first, but something has gone badly wrong somewhere.
Only when he has worked out what it is can he hope to solve it, but new contracts tend to come when you are playing well, not simply when those around you demand one.
There is a fine player in there still, the midfielder just needs to remember what was important to him this time last year and he will probably find him again.
