Newcastle manager Steve McClaren believes that the 2-1 victory at Tottenham on Sunday (13 December) was the team’s response to critics but insisted his side need to keep this consistency in the upcoming games.
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Newcastle are now out of the relegation zone and face bottom-placed Aston Villa at St James’ Park on Saturday and Mitrovic, who scored the equaliser against Spurs having come on as a 72nd minute substitute, feels they can not drop their standards if they are to triumph in a crucial-looking encounter.
“I was angry because I spent two games on the bench and I wanted to show that I deserved to play”, Mitrovic said on Monday. “We want to be like this every, week which needs hard work, attitude, commitment and discipline”.
The second resulted in Dier glancing Christian Eriksen’s near-post corner past Elliot, although a fingertip touch from the former Charlton stopper prevented Vernun Anita heading clear.
Many were sceptical of Newcastle’s chances of avoiding relegation when Tim Krul was ruled out for the season with an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury, but Elliot is growing in confidence with every game and proved his worth with a string of impressive saves.
The 21-year-old now has three goals this season and can look like the best player for Newcastle at times.
Newcastle manager McClaren resisted the urge to make any changes at half-time and saw Cisse go close early in the second period when he drilled narrowly wide with his left foot from Moussa Sissoko’s pass.
Two of their four League wins under McClaren have come in the last eight days – a 2-0 home defeat of Liverpool, and a 2-1 victory at Tottenham.
“It is not about one player”, Pochettino said.
“Especially in the first half, we had to finish it. We did not score the second goal and Newcastle had the quality on the bench to turn things around”.
A move for Perez for either of the clubs, United, Tottenham and Arsenal would be an ideal option as all three clubs are looking to bring in reinforcements, especially for the Red Devils, who are struggling for goals this season.
“But it was so vocal, and there was such a determination amongst the players not to lead down the normal path of losing the game”.
Sitting 2nd in Sire A, it will certainly be a very hard tie for Spurs and considering we lost pretty comfortably against them last season, it may well be a case of which team has improved most in that year.
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Newcastle celebrate their victor which sees them topple Tottenham.
