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Emil Krafth betrayed Steve Bruce by producing an invisible performance at right-back in Newcastle United’s FA Cup third round defeat at Arsenal on Saturday night.
Bruce recalled the Sweden international to his starting line-up as one of a raft of changes from the Magpies side which lost at home to Leicester City a week prior, having decided to initially hand current favourite DeAndre Yedlin a rest at the Emirates Stadium.
But Krafth’s night lasted just 68 minutes before being replaced by Jacob Murphy, having ghosted around the field in north London without leaving any impact on proceedings.
Who is Newcastle’s best right-back?
Yedlin
Manquillo
Krafth
Krafth had proven to be Bruce’s favoured right-back in the cup competitions by starting three of the Toon’s four Carabao Cup ties, yet had struggled to establish himself in the Premier League with three starts in four appearances from a possible 16.
Bruce will have no immediate plans to trust the £3.5m-rated dud after his shocking display at Arsenal, where he could not create a thing going forward and looked entirely off the pace when retreating towards Martin Dubravka’s goal.
Joelinton could also be tarnished with the same brush as Krafth during the Brazilian’s 81 minutes at left-midfield, with Newcastle hero Alan Shearer blasting his former side’s £40m record signing for “offering nothing”.
Yet Joelinton had at least been full of running up and down the left-channel and held the ball up well to bring other United players into the action, which could not be said for his teammates who often left the 24-year-old isolated.
Krafth had no excuses for his torrid night in north London and firmly betrayed Bruce entirely through his own doing, leaving the £58,000-per-week dud left to face yet another spell out in the cold.
The 24-cap Sweden international contested a mere four duels during his time on the field, winning two, while turning over possession on eight occasions and making a single attempted dribble, per SofaScore.
He further misplaced two of his three attempted crosses, was dribbled past as often as he completed a successful tackle, made one clearance and offered a measly 10 accurate passes from 13 attempts.
Krafth’s performance ensured there was no doubt in his number being shown at some stage as Bruce looked for a way to beat Arsenal in their own backyard, and it will likely be some time yet before his name next features in a Magpies starting line-up.
AND in other news, Steve Bruce has no alternative but to perform a U-turn and tie a £4.5m-rated Newcastle star down with a new deal now…
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