Jamaal Lascelles names Newcastle United’s top player in training

Jamaal Lascelles has been at Newcastle United a long, long time and been through a lot of things. He has seen the club get relegated to the Championship and gain promotion to the Premier League. The club captain was staring at another potential relegation earlier this campaign but it is safe to say that things have changed a lot over the course of the past few months, and The Magpies might even have a chance to finish in the top half of the table.

The biggest reason behind that is the arrival of Eddie Howe as manager. He appears to have brought a freshness to the club that had been missing for a while. And the results have been visible on the pitch.

It looks like the players are very happy to play under the management of Howe at the moment. Newcastle United have been one of the most in-form teams in Europe this year.

Lascelles has opened up about some of the training methods of Howe. As reported by the Daily Mail, the Newcastle United captain said:

"‘Training is really hard, intense, so competitive. But at the same time it’s enjoyable and feels fun. We have a leaderboard. Each player gets points if you win a game, be that possession or a small-sided match, and it’s reviewed every month. We have a sit-down meeting and whoever is top gets a reward of the manager’s choice.‘It’s about seeing your name at the top. I looked at the table this morning and then, in training, you want to see yourself creeping higher and higher.‘I will tell you who is at the top, but not at the bottom… Dwight Gayle is top. If he loses a game, he’s miserable.’"

Gayle topping leaderboard in Newcastle United training

Gayle has barely featured for Newcastle United this season. According to stats from Transfermarkt, he has made 6 appearances across all competitions and played 103 minutes of football in total.

Thus, it is great to see Gayle making such an effort in training and it just goes on to show how the entire squad has come together since Howe’s arrival. The manager deserves a lot of credit for doing that.

Howe’s focus will surely be on making sure that Newcastle United stay up in the Premier League. They have done a tremendous job over the past few months and are comfortably above the relegation zone now. But The Magpies do have a very tough run of fixtures coming up, as they will face Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, Wolves, Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Burnley.