Sandro Tonali far from ‘perfect’ on second debut as Newcastle better off without him

There were 308 days between Sandro Tonali’s 12th appearance for Newcastle and his 13th as the £55m midfield made his long-awaited comeback from his self-inflicted football ban in the Carabao Cup clash against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.

Firmly in the Like A New Signing camp usually reserved for players returning from long injury absences, manager Eddie Howe said earlier this week that Tonali feels as though he needs to “repay everyone for the trust we’ve shown in him” having missed the majority of his first season over his betting breaches, starting with what the Italian will have felt like was his second debut for the Magpies.

The first landed him the ‘Toonali’ moniker courtesy of the Newcastle fans, whose concerns over his hefty transfer fee were immediately put to bed.

“As debuts go, this is as good as it gets,” Alan Shearer said on Match of the Day. “It was the perfect midfield performance. Goals, assists, tackles, great range of passing, late runs into the box, timing was perfect in almost everything, getting stuck in, he really was superb. And how to endear yourself to the Geordie public with a performance like this.”

Tonali scored six minutes into that debut and nearly scored his second Newcastle goal three minutes into his return at the City Ground. He ultimately failed to make the most of a hole-ridden Forest defence but made a typical gut-busting run from midfield to race on to Alexander Isak’s pass before forcing a fine save from Carlos Miguel, Forest’s imposing but nervy new goalkeeper.

The 6ft 8in Brazilian, signed from Corinthians for £3.3m, looks to be a mercurial character, not the best trait for a goalkeeper, and didn’t cover himself in glory 18 seconds in to his Forest career after he parried Isak’s shot straight into the path of Joe Willock, who soon after had to be replaced by Bruno Guimaraes having picked up yet another injury. Poor sod.

While we won’t be drawn into disproportionate praise for Tonali’s role in the goal, as the commentary team were after a ten yard pass forward to Almiron yer da could have made, that combined with his subsequent desire to get into the box as he did with his chance a couple of minutes later did suggest we may well be treated to a virtuoso second debut like the first.

That didn’t happen. What we actually saw was what we assume will be Newcastle’s first-choice midfield trio of Tonali, Guimaraes and Joelinton chase former Toon star Elliot Anderson and his second-string Forest teammates around the pitch with little to nothing to show for their efforts before Tonali was replaced, along with Almiron and Kieran Trippier, on the hour mark.

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Forest debutant Jota Silva, ‘The Portuguese Grealish’, lashed the ball into the top corner to draw his side level in a manner that couldn’t have been less in keeping with the footballing style of his lookalike, with the gait and technique of the £5.9m summer signing closer to that of James Milner or Damien Duff than his supposed doppelganger.

He was impressive though and was key to Forest’s dominance before the introductions of Sean Longstaff, Tino Livramento and Anthony Gordon swung the game in Newcastle’s favour.

Miguel made a fine save to deny Lewis Hall, Harvey Barnes fired a shot into the side netting after some lovely work by Livramento and Newcastle had nine shots to Forest’s one in the last half hour having managed just four to the host’s 11 while Tonali was on the pitch.

And Forest’s new goalkeeper could have ensured his status as cult hero after just one game following a brilliant full-length dive to deny Joelinton in the shootout before pumping his fists manically in front of the jubilant home fans, had teammates Taiwo Awoniyi and Ibrahim Sangare not fluffed their lines to send Newcastle through.

It was fitting for Longstaff to slot the winning penalty given it’s his place in the team at stake following the return of Tonali, who everyone assumes will be back in the starting lineup when he returns to full fitness, and the homegrown lad made a significant difference from the bench.

Despite briefly threatening to come back with the bang he arrived at Newcastle with a year ago, it didn’t quite happen for Tonali in their nail-biting win at the City Ground, and for the time being – with Longstaff stepping up to the plate – it looks as though they may be better off without him.