Bruno Guimaraes offers support of Newcastle United star after playing first full game for months
Eddie Howe made seven changes to the starting lineup to face Bournemouth on Sunday from the one that battled Barcelona on Thursday night.
It was a bold move by Eddie Howe, especially considering his first team hasn't exactly been firing on all cylinders, so to change so many was a big risk that ultimately didn't pay off.
In all fairness, what was almost a Newcastle United B Team mimicked the first-team's style in that they defended well, passed through the middle confidently and then fell apart in the final third.
However, the big positive for Eddie Howe and Newcastle United is that he now feels he has the personnel to make such sweeping changes and not lose too much.
Lewis Hall played the full game for Newcastle United on Sunday
The changes also gave a massive opportunity to young full-back Lewis Hall, who has been making a slow return to the first-team after his injury lay-off, which began in March, forced him to miss the rest of last season and ultimately lose his place in the starting XI to his best mate, Tino Livramento.
The former Chelsea duo both started for Newcastle on Sunday, however. Playing as wing-backs in a tweaked formation, and despite having very few minutes to his name this season, Hall applied himself well for the entire game, which caused Newcastle captain, Bruno Guimaraes, who was watching from the sidelines, to deliver a strong three-word message in response to Hall's Instagram post after the game.
"What a player"
What kind of starting lineup will we see on Wednesday?
Bruno never fails to support his teammates on social media. The Brazilian also commented, "Top performance bro" on Malick Thiaw's post after the German made his full debut for Newcastle.
Thiaw's sentiments after the game echoed those of Lewis Halls, taking the point at Bournemouth and aiming focus towards Bradford on Wednesday.
Who knows what kind of starting XI we'll get on Wednesday night, especially with a huge game against Arsenal to come after.
