Tonali earns praise from Newcastle fans and media in new role vs Liverpool

Italy international Sandro Tonali has been praised by Newcastle fans and the media for his display against Liverpool in the No.6 role last night.

The former Milan ace started in the middle of the park for the Magpies last night, playing 87 minutes in a 3-3 draw at St. James’ Park.

Tonali started in the middle of a three-man midfield, completed by Bruno Guimaraes on the right and Joelinton on the left.

As highlighted by Chronicle Live, Newcastle coach Eddie Howe had been struggling to fit Tonali and Bruno into the same midfield trio before last night, but Tonali’s performance against Liverpool proved he could join the Brazilian midfielder in the middle of the park.

Tonali earns praise from Newcastle fans and media in new role vs Liverpool

“For the first 45 minutes, Tonali was everything United could want him to be,” Stuart Jamieson from St.James’ Park wrote.

“Brave, tenacious, creative and intelligent, he dominated the midfield battle against Liverpool stars Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones. He went close with an effort in the opening stages and continually disrupted Liverpool’s attacking play to put Newcastle back on the front foot.

“Harnessing Tonail’s talents while not diminishing Bruno’s impact was always going to the challenge – and Howe might just have cracked it.”

To be fair, Tonali’s stats against Liverpool don’t look great. He was rated 6.7 by Sofascore with 53 touches, 83% passing accuracy and four ground duels won from eight.

Nevertheless, stats don’t always show the full picture and Newcastle fans were also impressed by the Italian midfielder.

Many praised Tonali on X, formerly Twitter, saying the Italian was ‘phenomenal’ against the Reds.