Newcastle United secured a narrow victory against Crystal Palace this weekend.
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez opted to start Isaac Hayden alongside Jonjo Shelvey for their match against Crystal Palace, but it was not until the former was replaced with summer signing Mikel Merino that the Magpies began to click.
Hayden will feel relieved to be over last season’s injury problems, but he is going to need to up his game considerably if he wants to keep his starting spot for a Newcastle side seemingly heading in only one direction.
Benitez may have had a relative slow transfer window yet his new additions have – for the most part – slotted in well and Hayden is already at risk of being left behind, a bit-part player at most unless he can play to his full potential.
There is no doubting the Newcastle midfielder’s talent, however every time he is picked ahead of Merino, you can hear the murmurs of dissatisfaction from St. James’ Park for miles around.
Still only 22, Hayden is years away from his peak, but to reach that he needs to be playing week in, week out, and he will know he needs to perform better than he did against Palace.
After that match we took to Twitter to see what Newcastle fans thought of Hayden’s latest performance and you can read a selection of what we found below:
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