Newcastle boss Steve Bruce must drop Jonjo Shelvey vs Leicester | OneFootball

Ahead of his side’s Premier League clash against Leicester City on Friday night, Newcastle boss Steve Bruce must finally axe Jonjo Shelvey from the starting line-up.

The England international endured a difficult afternoon against Arsenal last time out, with The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder simply slamming him as “disappointing” for his performance.

And, with a trip to Champions League chasing Leicester tonight, Bruce must make the bold call of dropping one of his trusted lieutenants, with The Shields Gazette’s Liam Kennedy raising real concerns over his form this season.

He said: “For a player of Shelvey’s talents he needs to do more. Influence more. Impact more. And more often than not, to the untrained eye, it appears as if he chooses not to up those levels.

“He is no world beater and lacks a yard or five of pace and mobility but Shelvey can be better than he shows. And that’s the most disappointing part. For that reason, for me, he is not a worthy carrier of the armband – and not a player who leads by example, despite his considerable top flight experience.

Dubbed a “liability” on the Pod On The Tyne podcast, the £70k-a-week earning Shelvey just hasn’t shown anywhere near the kind of form that warrants him still being in the starting line-up for the Magpies this campaign.

As per Whoscored, out of the last ten games that he has played, only two of those matches have seen him register a match rating of seven or higher, including dropping a measly 5.94 against the Gunners last weekend.

His passing, something that has usually been lauded as one of his strong points, has been a major let down too, with just a 75.9% passing accuracy in the Premier League – to put that into context, that ranks him 16th in the entire Magpies squad, and below even the likes of Jeff Hendrick.

With no goals and just one assist in his last 12 top-flight games, Shelvey just hasn’t contributed anything of significance for Bruce to keep persisting with him in the middle of the park, let alone be his captain.

It’s high time he gets dropped, starting with the clash against Leicester tonight.

Meanwhile, Newcastle are interested in this Dutch starlet…