NUFC star involved in 'heated exchange' after demanding answers from Toon teammates - Report

The Chronicle's Lee Ryder has revealed that Jamaal Lascelles was involved in a 'heated exchange' with his Newcastle United teammates on Monday night, delivering a few 'home truths' following our flat first half display at Chelsea.

The report claims he has emerged as a 'big voice' in recent weeks and 'demanded answers' in the dressing room.

Lascelles has himself confirmed that there were harsh words said in the dressing room against Chelsea on Monday night.

The skipper believes the team started slowly, gifting Chelsea a 2-0 lead at the break and questioned why we took so long to impose ourselves on the game:

"We were probably a bit too passive and paid them too much respect.

"Against a team like that the least we need to be doing is getting up against them and making life hard for them.

"We need to look at ourselves and ask why that didn't happen.”

“In the dressing room at half-time things were said.

"I think we come out second half a better team. It was a much better performance in the last 45 minutes.”

Lascelles has looked no where near his best, struggling for injuries during the past 18 months and maybe should be looking closer to home when asking why the performances haven’t been good enough. Sky Sports showed Lascelles walking away after the Chelsea goal, with his head down and feeling sorry for himself.

Under Rafa he was vocal and demanding which showed on the pitch too. It may be long overdue, but it’s good to see him trying to be a leader again.

Reminiscent of the Southampton defeat back in 2016 - where he (Lascelles) stood up in the changing room and ultimately impressed Rafa into giving him the armband. Let’s hope this season doesn’t end the same way.

Lascelles spoke back in 2016 about the defeat to Southampton, “'We've got flair players, tricky players, players with loads of talent, but we need more heart, we need more desire.”

The similarity is very much the same 5 years on. We may have more heart now than back in 2016, but playing for the most uninspiring manager in the Premier League it must be tough.

Let’s see if this Lascelles wake up call to the squad will cause a reaction on Sunday night - away to Manchester United.

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