Steve McClaren hopes Mike Ashley will back him to the hilt so he can command the dressing-room respect to win Newcastle’s relegation dogfight.
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However, McClaren is confident he can turn things around at St James’ Park.
The former Everton man feels Newcastle had no defensive organisation and could have shipped double the amount of goals they did.
Palace’s wide players were guilty of getting into good positions and then over-hitting their crosses against Sunderland.
He said: “There are 14 games gone and we know we’re in a relegation battle”. We’ve looked at Newcastle over the last couple of days and focused on that.
Palace have got by without a regular, natural forward up front, so much so that they didn’t even name one in their 2-1 win against Liverpool earlier this month, with Bakary Sako operating as a makeshift striker that day.
You guys, this is really bad.
“I think that’s the key thing, that there’s no panic”, said McClaren when asked if continued backing from Newcastle’s board would prove pivotal to Premier League survival.
“I don’t think people really expect it. I wasn’t really in the box last season but this season I am in the box a lot more, I am picking up little scraps and so far I have got goals off scraps”.
We have to get to February to see if we’ve got a chance of Europe. I love the staff and fans there.
Operating alongside Connor Wickham, Bolasie played more centrally than he has at any point this season and he rewarded his manager’s tactical decision by terrorising the opposition back four and scoring his first two goals of the season. You’re going to do that on the training field, within the group, and within the work, and we’ve got to come through together.
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This time a year ago, the Toon were in the top half with Pardew in the dugout after a run of six wins in a row; whilst few fans would happily accept him back, the team could do with a similar run if they are to reach the relative comfort of mid-table mediocrity.
