Isaac Hayden has revealed how a Rafa Benitez pep talk has left him feeling recharged.
The Newcastle midfielder was left out of the side that beat Rotherham in the last United fixture.
He faces stiff competition from Jack Colback and Jonjo Shelvey in the centre of Newcastle’s midfield but is already proving to be a crowd favourite.
But he is enjoying life at Newcastle and Hayden said: “I’ve been happy with it.
“I’d say probably the last couple of games - I didn’t play in the Rotherham game and maybe I was a little bit tense in my game, putting too much pressure on myself a little bit, in the couple of games leading up to it.”
And revealing his positive chat with Benitez , he told NUFC TV: “The manager spoke to me about (that) and he just helped me understand what he wanted from me, what he wanted from my game, and I think that helped me.
“I’ve come back now after the England under-21s debut and I feel fresh and I feel ready to go for the next section of games.
“There’s a lot of games in the Championship as we all know. The manager likes to rotate and he likes to keep players fresh.
“I think everyone’s on board with what he wants going forward and everyone who is associated with the club needs to be pulling in the right direction to get it back to where it belongs - in the Premier League.”