“Jonjo Shelvey. I was tasked with literally following him around the pitch wherever he went. It didn’t matter where the ball was, I was following him around, which he got very frustrated at.
“I quite enjoyed it, but with the ability he has, he got a free-kick in the 44th minute or something, he played an 80-yard pass and they scored from it. That was the only time that I gave him 10 yards because it was a free-kick so I couldn’t really do anything about it. My task was just to wind him up and try and put him off his game. It was going quite well but I think they beat us 4-1 in the end. He was saying all game: 'I’ll give you my top after the game,' then he came down the tunnel, we had a little laugh about it and he did give me his top. I said: 'I’ll take that, but you won’t want mine.'
“The way he plays, he is someone you should look up to. I know he has a bit of stuff off the pitch, but he is very composed and confident in his own ability, probably arrogant but that’s what makes him so good. I admired him because he was getting wound up with me but he still tried to get the ball and then eventually his quality showed. Rafa Benitez said to our manager that it had been quite effective because they had struggled to get him on the ball. It meant that other Newcastle players had to go try and win the game because he was their best player by a mile in the Championship.”