“At the present moment, we just have to get over that hump and once we do, we have got the talent and ability – we have shown that – that we will win games”.
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And Steve McClaren’s winless and injury-hit side are among the favourites to be relegated this season.
Newcastle United vs Norwich City is usually a fairly boring game, but with so much on the line for both teams on Sunday there should be more incentive to score goals.
“When I’ve seen the last two games, I’ve seen two 45 minutes of what I want to see from this team”, said McClaren.
“If we do that, I think we can win”. “If we get that pressure in, we handle it and we perform, we will win football matches”.
Gary Hooper and Lewis Grabban are set to come back into contention for Norwich following ankle injuries, although midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu (foot) remains sidelined.
“We need to keep in perspective the first eight games”, said McClaren, whose side have already played Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United this season.
Confidence is the key word here and I feel there has been a negative hangover from the last campaign when Newcastle had to beat West Ham on the final day to secure their top flight status.
If the bookmakers are to be believed, McClaren could be the next manager to leave, and another defeat at the weekend would put the club in a hard position as they continue to search desperately for that first victory.
McClaren, however, couldn’t hide his disappointment at the loss of Krul, who had only been handed a start for Holland after Jasper Cillessen broke down in the warm-up for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Kazakhstan in Astana.
I’m pleased to say that Steve McClaren has done everything expected of him so far, I have been particularly impressed that he has not publicly mentioned how ridiculous it was that we handed him another French winger rather than the left-back and another centre-half that were desperately needed. “I certainly think that by January, we’ll know (if another goalkeeper is needed)”.
Wes Hoolahan of Norwich City and Ngolo Kante of Leicester City compete for the ball.
The Magpies are one of only two remaining Premier League clubs, the other one is Sunderland, that has yet to win a game this season and new coach Steve McClaren would look to finally have a breakthrough in this meeting.
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Meanwhile, Newcastle pair Alex Gilliead and Macaulay Gillesphey have extended their loan spells at League Two club Carlisle United until the end of the season.
