A section of Newcastle United fans have taken to Twitter to express their delight at centre-back Federico Fernandez’ performance in the 2-1 loss to Arsenal on Saturday.
The Magpies were subjected to their fourth defeat of the Premier League season after Xhaka and Mesut Ozil put two goals past them, with the only consolation coming from Ciaran Clark in stoppage time.
However, despite yet another loss, the United faithful were still full of praise for the 6ft 2in [Transfermarkt] ace, with some comments including “he’s a no nonsense leader” and “the next Carlos Puyol.”
This is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets below:
Fernandez was my MOTM today, I understand starting Joselu but we didn't play to his strengths and should've brought on Rondon, Shelvey also has to start v Palace #nufc #NEWARS #PL
— Laurence Taylor ???????????????? (@laurence_1999) September 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/thee_best_smart/status/1040970123325198337
Tell you what, we were awful today but Federico Fernandez is a player, bloke's a no nonsense leader.
— Alex (@AlexMcGuire98) September 15, 2018
Fernandez on the wing did more than our actual wingers! #nufc
— Dave Harrop (@DaveH4rrop) September 15, 2018
Fernandez is better than Lascelles.
— Jak. (@DyerJak) September 15, 2018
Just in from the game…great first half, poor second. Fernandez looks solid which is good, I feel the injury to Lascelles didnt help and if he had of stayed we would have got more. Hayden was poor, not interested and bot wanting to be here, got to go #nufc
— D M (@DAZM6988) September 15, 2018
One positive from yesterday was Fernandez. Thought he was excellent yesterday. #NUFC
— Deka Petrie (@DekaD7) September 16, 2018
Best attaching player today for #NUFC was Fernandez, says slot
— Rob Norris (@OneRobNorris) September 15, 2018
OPINION
Fernandez was clearly one of Newcastle’s best players on the pitch on Saturday afternoon against Arsenal, and he seems to have adapted quickly to the centre-back role in Jamaal Lascelles’ absence. It is hard not to agree with this section of fans praising his performance, and as one fan pointed out, he was their best attacking player. This says a lot if a fan is saying this about a defender, and it indicates that Newcastle’s firepower is seriously lacking – Joselu hardly had a positive effect on the game, and this will be rather worrying for boss Rafa Benitez. The fact that Salomon Rondon did not feature at all raises a lot of questions – if he is not being played often enough, then he will not be getting the goals on a regular basis. All in all, United need to seriously improve upon this outing – but one positive that they can take from this is that one fan labelled Fernandez as a ‘no nonsense leader.’