Newcastle United's Jonjo Shelvey frustrated to be labelled "lazy"

With two years remaining on the deal he signed when he arrived from Swansea inn January 2015, Shelvey knows this is a crucial season for him after a summer when he was expected to join West Ham United.

In an honest and frank interview, in which he apologised to supporters for missing a penalty in the shoot-out defeat to Leicester City on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup, the 27-year-old confirmed that he was close to moving to the Hammers.

Newcastle United's Jonjo Shelvey

Now the Romford-born midfielder is focused on staying on Tyneside under new head coach Steve Bruce, and intends to illustrate with his performances just how much as he looks to shrug off suggestions he does not work as hard as he should in the middle of the pitch.

“You hear things that you're lazy. I get labelled lazy maybe because of my body language and I'm quite a laid-back character. I just get called lazy,” said Shelvey. “I wasn't lazy out there on Tuesday night.

“People can say what they want. At the end of the day, I'm the one that goes out there and trains every day as hard as I can. I'm playing for another contract at this football club and I need to keep performing and keep training hard.

“We'll find out what the stats are but stats are stats. You can run 15k if you want. At the end of the day, I'm a footballer. Did you see Gazza running 15k? Do you see people like that?

“I'm not comparing myself to them, I understand that football is changing and evolving, and I am evolving with it, but I get labelled lazy. On that performance against Leicester, I don't think I was lazy. If that's what it takes to get into the team, I'll do it.”

Despite what he felt was an encouraging display against Leicester, he would not expect to be in the team to face Watford in the Premier League on Saturday having been on the bench for the memorable win at Tottenham.

“I don't expect to play on Saturday. The team won. That's football,” Shelvey said. “If I was a manager, I wouldn't change. If I do go into management, which I hope to one day, I wouldn't change a winning team. That's just the way it is.

“The team was outstanding on Sunday - they played really well - and you have to give them another chance. It'll be a big game and if I'm on the bench and called upon, I'll be ready.

“I just want to be part of the squad. I get labelled that I'm a sulker and that I'm not part of this team. I'm part of this team. I get paid by this football club. I'll do what the manager tells me to do and what the hierarchy tell me to do.”

Shelvey rarely speaks to the media but he was quite open to putting his message across this week, and was happy to admit that he had come close to leaving – even if he would prefer to stay at St James’ Park because his family love living in the area.

“I'm not one to do loads and loads of interviews. You won't find me on social media - I'm not interested in all that,” he said. “Let people do the talking. I've not once stated that I want to leave this club.

“I was close to leaving to go to West Ham but it never came - the club said no to it. I'm happy here, I love living in the city. My kids go to school here, they love it. The oldest one is starting to talk like a Geordie. My youngest one was born up here. I love living here.”

And Shelvey thinks that Bruce deserves to be given a chance to shine as head coach of the club he has supported all of his life after a tough start to life in charge at Newcastle.

“You pick things up and you read things and I just think they need to get off the gaffer's back,” said Shelvey. “He's come in here and he's doing a good job. It's enjoyable to work with him.

“I got dropped the other day. You're disappointed but the day after, you're doing a session that just totally makes you forget. It was hard on the day I got dropped on the day of the game, but it happens in football.

“I was going to go knock on the gaffer's door the next day because I was top scorer at the time! Look, they went and won - that's football - and the next day you come into training and show the gaffer you should've been playing.

“I got the chance against Leicester and screwed up with the penalty miss, but it is what it is in football and you've just got to keep going.

“I just want to apologise to the fans for such a shocking, shocking penalty to be honest with you. It's just a rubbish way to go out. I'm disappointed with myself for missing the penalty because I thought we probably deserved a little bit more from the game. I thought we played very well against one of their strongest sides. I'm disappointed.”