Although he did a good job in trying circumstances at St James’ Park, he was not the most popular figure among the Newcastle supporters, who accused him of being nothing more than owner Mike Ashley’s puppet in the dugout. We expect the same here.
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They finally got their fifth in the 93rd minute after Bolasie again got to the byline before crossing into Newcastle’s box.
“You look at Newcastle, when he left they struggled a bit to cope with losing him and we kicked right on”. They showed their frustration, disappointment and anger, and rightly so. We’ve got experience in the coaching staff and we know what we have to do.
“That’s the key thing, that there’s no panic”. That being said this team has plenty of quality and I have high expectations of this side and am hopeful that they can bounce back and win against Newcastle. “We want to do it for the manager, we want to do it for everyone – for the fans – to make things right”.
McClaren was forced to accept he may not be able to read his players the riot act too often if the sole fruit is to slip deeper into trouble. In time, it will turn around and work.
“It is disappointing. We wanted a reaction and we got that”.
Colback became embroiled in a flare-up with Zaha after chopping the Palace winger down in the early stages and after the dust had settled, Cisse nodded in Daryl Janmaat’s cross to put Newcastle ahead.
Bolasie has come in off the wing to play behind striker Connor Wickham and already matched last season’s total of four goals.
Bolasie netted a brace as Palace dominated proceedings at Selhurst Park, running out comfortable 5-1 winners over the relegation-threatened Magpies.
“There’s no extra satisfaction (in beating Newcastle)”, he said.
McClaren believes the players must adopt an element of “peer pressure” in getting the best out of one another, after conceding eight goals in their last two outings and scoring once in five games.
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“I think it’s important that the group stays strong”, he told reporters.
