Jonjo Shelvey became a villain during Newcastle United’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day of the Premier League season.
Rafa Benitez has conceded that he is yet to decide whether Jonjo Shelvey will be considered to captain Newcastle again after he was sent off in their opening day defeat to Tottenham, the Shields Gazette reports.
Shelvey wore the armband for the Magpies in their clash with Spurs with club captain Jamaal Lascelles only on the bench – but the midfielder did not see out the game.
The 25-year-old was dismissed three minutes into the second-half after a needless step on Spurs’ Dele Alli, and the red card appeared to prove very costly as Tottenham scored twice against the 10 men to kick off their campaign with a 2-0 victory.
Had Shelvey been sent off for a slightly mistimed, full-blooded tackle, then perhaps the Newcastle supporters would have been much more sympathetic towards the former Swansea man – however, the pointlessness of the incident appears to have led to Shelvey being made the scapegoat for the defeat.
And Benitez appears to be just as frustrated with the Englishman, failing to provide a definitive answer when asked about whether he could captain the side again.
“We will see in the future. It is too early,” he said, as reported by the Shields Gazette.
It would hardly be a surprise if Benitez decided to not hand Shelvey the armband again as he may now fear that he cannot rely on him to be keep his cool and lead the team during their return to the top flight.
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