ENERGY HAMMERS MUST IRON OUT ISSUES
a horrendous time for all the clubs.” But Bruce also warns against ripping up the nucleus of the squad, like Jamaal Lascelles, Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie, who have kept the club in the top flight.
He added: “We have a really good nucleus of players here. We have just got to keep adding one or two to it and see where it takes us.
“The lads who have been here for promotion and beyond, they epitomise the club.
They know the club, they know the demands of what it takes to play here at
Newcastle. The club needs that nucleus. It’s important that you keep it.
“How often do you see a club that gets promoted from the Championship and, all of a sudden, the team that’s got you there are dismantled very, very quickly.
“All of a sudden you can get yourself in a mess. We tap into that core. “Certainly the team who got the team to the Premier League three years ago are still here, still playing and still rightly being rewarded with new contracts. I hope that continues.
“They want the best for the club which is always good.”
JARROD BOWEN has challenged his West Ham team-mates to build up a head of steam on the back of Wednesday’s win over Chelsea to keep them away from the relegation dogfight.
The Hammers face Newcastle today and then Burnley in midweek before taking on three of the four teams below them in their final four games.
The only team in the top six they must now face is Manchester United, which is why Bowen knows the matches before that one are crucial to get them out of the mess their poor start to the season has left them in.
Bowen (right) said: “The next four games now are games we want to get maximum points from and really step away from the dogfight we’re currently in.
“We want to be clear from it. We’re going into a tough game but if we show our workrate and character and performance levels, we know we can take maximum points.
“It’s everyone’s dream to play in the Premier League — it’s a privileged position to be in and I want to play at the top level for this club.
“We shouldn’t be in the position we’re in but we can’t change it now, we’re in this position and it’s down to us to get out of it.”
West Ham boss David Moyes insists he’s still targeting 40 points, although he knows that two wins from six, with a draw here or there, should be enough to keep his side in the top flight.
Asked if 35 points would be enough, Moyes – whose men have won eight league games this season – said: “I hope it’s 35. But I couldn’t be sure.
“I had to set my bar high, which is 40, and if we keep aiming for that and we just fall below it then maybe we might get enough, who knows?
“In my mind there was always a feeling that to win 10 games in the Premier League would give you a chance of staying up.
“Over the years that’s been because you tended to get a relative amount of draws with it.
“So if we were to have any chance of staying in the Premier League we would need to have 10 wins and at the moment we’re not on that, so we have to try to reach that point.”