Despite the heavy defeat for Newcastle United, there were, surprisingly, actually a few positives to take from the 5-1 defeat against Tottenham on Sunday afternoon. In the first half in North London, the Magpies were arguably the better of the two teams and could have been slightly disappointed to go in at the half-time break level.
That hard work was very quickly undone though as Spurs went in front through Matt Doherty just three minutes after the interval. Three more goals followed for the hosts as United continued to show their defensive frailties and, in the end, they were fortunate to only conceded five as Tottenham spurned a few decent chances towards the end.
Many of the travelling supporters - and even those watching from Tyneside - will want to wipe the second half from their memory but there was, somehow, a positive to take. The performance of Bruno Guimaraes was once again very impressive, especially considering the ineptitude of his team mates when he was brought on with half an hour left.
Read more: Newcastle players' worrying response after Eddie Howe warning and owner's reaction
Eddie Howe was sceptical to start him after he returned from international duty with Brazil just a couple of days before the trip to the capital. He quickly showed that, whenever he is fit, he simply has to start for United as he was comfortably his side’s best player in the second half.
While breaking football down into statistics can often be misleading, his stats from the defeat perfectly highlighted how assured he was after coming on from the bench. It was another all-action showing from man who opened his goalscoring account for Brazil last week.
Whether he was picking out his team mates, taking on and beating opposing midfielders, drawing fouls or winning tackles, he looked twice the player of any of the other visiting players in the final half an hour. It is totally understandable that Guimaraes wasn’t included from the start but he must be included in the starting XI next time out, against Wolves on Friday evening.
He has shown what he can offer every time he has taken to the pitch in the Premier League and Howe needs to be willing to utilise him in the last eight games of the season. He will certainly be one of the few players that his boss, and the recruitment team, will be looking to build the team around during the summer transfer window.
For the latest Newcastle news direct to your inbox, go here to sign up to our free newsletter
