Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles backs goalkeeper Mats Selz

NEWCASTLE captain Jamaal Lascelles has leapt to the defence of team-mate Matz Sels after the goalkeeper deleted his Twitter account following online abuse.

The Belgian stopper was targeted with angry messages following Aston Villa’s late equaliser against the Magpies on Saturday.

A number of supporters blamed the 24-year-old for Newcastle’s 1-1 draw at Villa Park, but the Toon skipper has insisted it was the fault of the team rather than just the summer signing in goal.

Lascelles said: “Goalkeepers are like defenders, whenever we make a mistake it gets blown up out or proportion. Much more than when a striker misses a chance.

“Nobody was to blame, he’s kept clean sheets this season and has been excellent. He wasn’t at fault for the goal as there were a build-up of mistakes before that.

“Nobody is on his back and we will take it as a team. Whenever a goal is conceded we won’t point fingers at individuals.

“We will look at it as a team and look at it collectively and how we could have stopped it even getting to that position.”

Newcastle welcome Championship leaders Norwich City to St. James’ Park on Wednesday.

And after the abuse directed at Sels at the weekend, Lascelles has called on the club’s supporters to help grow the togetherness from the stand and on the pitch ahead of the crunch clash.

Lascelles told ChronicleLive: “Us playing in these shirts ask high standards of each other, as players we want to do well as much as the fans.

“The minute the opposition score people may be on our backs. The fans will stick with us and we won’t point fingers.

“We will deal with it as a team and correct it in training.”

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