With the spotlight of yesterday's game firmly being on his shoulders, Jonjo Shelvey rose to the occasion and actually looked to thrive on it... showcasing exactly why Newcastle paid out £12 million for his services this week. Finally, a genuine replacement for Yohan Cabaye has been found. Shelvey brought vision and composure to a Newcastle side that for the past few seasons have naively bombed forward in search of goals and usually exploded into disaster, without much of a game-plan. No longer does this feel like the case. No longer are Newcastle a predictable side that relies on Sissoko and Janmaat linking up on the right... with Shelvey now sitting in the middle of the park, The Magpies have that quarterback pulling the strings to create opportunities. It's been an awful long time since passes on Tyneside brought about oooohs and aaaahs from the Geordie faithful. It's extremely notable that both goals Newcastle scored weren't on the counter-attack. So many of United's goals come this way as the pace of their midfield can unlock a tired side but here they were in the opening minutes, passing their way into space and danger and scoring goals when facing a full back-four. Shelvey's ability to pick out a pass to anyone and create a threat from nothing (as was the case with both goals) is a breath of fresh air for the Toon. He's an exciting prospect and Newcastle feel like a genuine side once again. The ramped-up noise levels of the game did see Shelvey try a few wayward attempts at goal towards the end of the match as he went in pursuit of the debut goal headlines when taking the ball into the corner may have been more advisable, but his overall performance would win those plaudits anyway. You have to go back a lot of years to remember a debut that was as exciting on Tyneside as this one.
Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.
