'Unbelievable' Newcastle star spotted doing something unusual before kick-off yesterday

Eagled-eyed Newcastle fans may have spotted something out of the ordinary before kick-off yesterday.

Just before kick-off, the Newcastle players got into their usual pre-game huddle but if you look into the huddle on the extended highlights released by the club, you may notice something odd.

Maybe it's just us, but we'd expect that it would be the team captain's job to deliver the pre-match boost out on the pitch with maybe a bit of encouragement thrown in by other players, but yesterday it seemed that Joelinton was the one leading the hype.

Big J7 got the players pumped up before kick-off

Granted it's not clear, and it's not a lingering shot, but at the start of the extended highlights video we can see that it's Joelinton who appears to be addressing the players

Newcastle United Football Club/NUFC TV

It may be that players take a turn delivering the speeches and this is the first time we've noticed, but for us, it just shows that Eddie Howe may have his leadership team, but every player out there is equally as important.

It was Joelinton's first game back from injury and perhaps the Brazilian, labelled as 'unbelievable' by Alan Shearer had plenty of pent-up thoughts to release before the game got underway.

The leadership team helps Eddie Howe manage the squad's harmony

The leadership team, which consists of Jamaal Lascelles, Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn, Callum Wilson, and Matt Ritchie are there to help other players with issues rather than taking everything to Eddie Howe. They are responsible for putting an arm around new signings and making them feel welcome.

It's great to see, though, that other players are still given a voice in the side and that is likely a huge reason why the team always seem so together which in turn translates into top performances and success.