Newcastle United boss Steve McClaren insists he never feared for his job this season. “I will always put myself on the pitch as long as the manager thinks I can do enough”.
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Tottenham Hotspur will face Newcastle United at White Hart Lane in the Premier League on Sunday evening.
“Contrary to some of the reports, we are a good group and we do all get on”, said Elliot, who has kept three clean sheets in seven games since replacing Tim Krul despite Newcastle’s inconsistent form.
I do think they are capable of getting something against Tottenham, though.
“It is a very unsafe game for us”. We have been reiterating what we did against Liverpool and what we need to do to give a good performance against Spurs. We’ve seen in the past how the Thursday-Sunday grind can impact a team.
“When you’re struggling for confidence – and the previous two games obviously knocked our confidence a bit – you need to grind it out to begin with”, he said. “They probably get the majority of possession, so we were trying to press on them and break on them as well”. That win was just a third in 15 games for Steve McClaren’s side, who are priced at 15/2 (8.50) with Paddy Power to make it two in a row here. “It all has to start with the kind of pressing and fighting we showed last weekend though”.
Tottenham Hotspur scored a thumping midweek Europa League victory over AS Monaco and will be aiming to take that devastating form into the weekend as they are presented with a fixture that, on paper, they should deal with comfortably. The bottom line is, if we do get anything from this season it will be done doing the hard yards.
“We fully expect on Sunday a very energetic Spurs team which we will have to play against”.
“I need to improve my game”. We have had too many score draws that’s true but I would rather draw 1 -1 away from home than lose 2-0 to Stoke away. That’s something you can only really get through playing games though.
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The most important factor in Newcastle’s victory was their psychological position as underdogs; McClaren abandoned the open shape and short-passing system he has tried to instil at St James’ Park (leading to a large gap between defence and midfield that is frequently exploited) and played in a narrow formation.
