Newcastle Captain Jamaal Lascelles Praises Recent Performances of 'Frustrated' Matt Ritchie

Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles has spoken about teammate Matt Ritchie’s frustrations after the Scot fired home Newcastle’s winner against Manchester United on Sunday evening.

Lascelles, speaking to the Northern Echo, revealed how Ritchie has been frustrated with his football recently as Newcastle struggle to keep themselves away from the closely-knit relegation battle.

The Scottish international struggle for form this season has seen him lose his place in the starting XI, and seen him instead being consigned to a rotational position.

However, the Toon captain is hoping that Ritchie’s winner against Manchester United is going to be the turning point in his season.

Ritchie managed to get himself on the end of a clever Dwight Gayle flick, and thump the ball into the next past United’s David De Gea.

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“Matt has been pretty frustrated recently, but he finally got his goal and hopefully he can start finding the net a bit more often,” said Lascelles. “But overall, it was a massive team performance and the Man of the Match could have gone to anybody.”

It was Ritchie’s first goal of the season and was seen by many as a fitting reward for his performance on the day.

The former Bournemouth winger caused the Red Devils a huge problem and worked hard throughout his performance to keep Newcastle’s defensive shape.

The win put the Magpies 13th in the Premier League table, two points clear of the relegation zone.