McClaren, however, is aware that historically, Newcastle are at their most vulnerable when expectations rise and he knows complacency could be their biggest enemy against Villa.
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“We should win that game with those chances but over the last three games we have taken seven games and I’m happy with that”.
Asked if he would settle for a “boring” second-half of the season, he replied: “At the present moment that’s not boring me”.
“Everyone keeps telling us it would be typical Newcastle to lose this one”, he said. They have responded in the right way, in the way that we would like and the fans would like. Are we ready to do it? But then I thought we recovered well from that and really went for the game at the end and again had two good chances with Gini [Wijnaldum] and Ayoze [Perez].
“I’ve just seen the chances”. Newcastle’s mini revival came after a few home truths were voiced around the training ground after humiliating defeats by the Foxes and Palace.
“We spoke about half-times and the importance of leadership, and he was terrific”.
McClaren refuses to underestimate a Villa side who have yet to win under Remi Garde, the former Lyons coach who was heavily touted for the Toon job earlier this year. “Consistency is key and getting consistent performance is a platform”, McClaren told reporters on Friday.
McClaren paired the two together against Norwich and then they were doing well against Sunderland until Cattermole kicked Colback out of the game, so I think there’s a good chance that Steve McClaren also thinks they are the best central midfield duo from his current options.
“The process was just the same, probably just a little more vocal than normal”. Villa have recalled Aly Cissokho from his loan spell at Porto, the Portuguese club have confirmed on their official website.
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Coloccini, however, has warned his team-mates that they must stay grounded and put the hard work in if they are to push up the Premier League table. Leandro Bacuna, a right-back, played on the left in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Arsenal which left Villa eight points from safety with Kieran Richardson failing to impress while deputising for Amavi.
