Newcastle United Fans
Newcastle United’s young talent, Miodrag Pivas, is making strides in his development after returning from a challenging loan spell in the Eredivisie. The Serbia youth international, who joined the Magpies in the summer of 2024, faced a delayed debut with Willem II due to administrative hurdles and managed only seven appearances throughout the season. Now back on Tyneside, Pivas is delivering promising performances for Newcastle’s Under-21s, including a notable display in their recent Premier League International Cup match against Paris Saint-Germain.
Lawrence said: “Sometimes it is one of the challenges players face as we try and prepare them for the senior stage. They do go out on loan, maybe it hasn’t been the best period for them overall, there is always learning if things haven’t gone your way and what you can learn from the loan. To be fair to Miodrag, he hadn’t played loads of football last season and in his youth years he played a lot in midfield so he’s still learning things about the intricacies of defending. He has attacked it and ultimately, in terms of his development and progress, in the last couple of months he has shown signs of progress and he’s working hard.”
Despite a strong start in the match against PSG, Newcastle’s U21s fell to a 2-0 defeat. The team began brightly, with Pivas and Ben Parkinson coming close to scoring in the opening 20 minutes. However, PSG demonstrated their clinical edge with two quick goals before halftime, first through Khalili Ayari’s powerful strike and then a composed finish from Mohamed-Amine El Idrissi. The task became even more challenging for Newcastle when Scott Bailey received a straight red card just before the break.
Newcastle’s resilience was evident in the second half, as they maintained discipline and organization despite being a man down. Goalkeeper Max Thompson had little to do as the Magpies managed to contain PSG’s advances. A potential opportunity arose when Seung-Soo Park was played in behind the defense, but a poor first touch squandered the chance. Charlie McArthur also came close with a header that narrowly missed the target.
Lawrence added: “I don’t think we have learnt anything massively different in terms of where they are at and what we are trying to do with them in terms of this part of the journey. I think it’s just the pleasing thing for them is how many times do you get to play under the lights against PSG and that type of opposition. You look at our first team playing Man City, a team full of top international players all over the pitch in a top Premier League game. That’s where we want our players to aspire to play in – but it’s obviously really tough to do that. Games like today are those types of game at youth level so it gets the players tested and going toe-to-toe against the best young players in Europe and there’s enough in there to show we have some talented individuals in there.”
Despite the defeat, the experience against a top European side like PSG is invaluable for Newcastle’s young players, providing them with the opportunity to test themselves against elite competition. The match serves as a stepping stone for Pivas and his teammates as they aim to emulate the success of Newcastle’s first team and compete at the highest levels of football.
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