With Ritchie to Lascelles
GROUND DOWN TO PASSION Captain’s focus on United as England call fails to come
get stuck in, and ultimately why we did so well – I don’t want to dwell on last season too much – but why we did so well last season was because of the high intensity in training.
“We’re all passionate, we’re all committed, and we’re hungry. We get after each other, and we train how we play. The harder you train, the easier it’s going to be when you play.
“We all know as a group of lads that, although we’ve got quality in the team, we’ve got to work hard – and it starts on the training pitch.
“It might mean that sometimes people do get upset. But we’ve got a good group of lads where we’ll just shake hands, we’ll sort it out.”
Benitez himself has appeared unconcerned by heated exchanges on the training pitch, even claiming last month that he thought they were a “positive” as long as they did not affect off-field relations.
Interestingly, Lascelles has implied that the Newcastle manager even likes to oversee such fiery sessions because Benitez knows that will bring the best out of his players during matches.
What’s more, the Magpies skipper believes that Benitez’s stature as a manager also leads to players training more intensely due to the fact they want to impress the Spaniard and ensure they retain their place within the starting XI.
Lascelles added: “The gaffer puts on some very intense training sessions, which are very competitive, which means the boys want to win, and they want to do well in training.
“And, because we’ve got such a huge manager in Rafa, people still want to impress. He’s been here for a while now, but when a new manager comes to a club, for the first week or two you want to impress; you’re really excited to come to training.
“Well we’re still like that now with this gaffer. That will just bring more intensity and, of course, because the competitiveness, and quality and depth in our squad, there’s loads of competition.
“So you need to make sure you’re training hard, because the next player will be waiting to come in and take his chance.” JAMAAL Lascelles admits he thought he was “pretty close” to receiving an England call-up twice in the past six months. The Newcastle United skipper has impressed for the Magpies in the Premier League over the past year, and manager Rafa Benitez believes Lascelles is capable of playing for his nation.
A large proportion of Newcastle supporters have also backed calls for Lascelles to be given a Three Lions chance by Gareth Southgate. England deployed a three-man defence at the World Cup in Russia, with Harry Maguire, John Stones and natural right-back Kyle Walker operating as the centre-backs – while Gary Cahill, Phil Jones and Eric Dier provided back-up options.
Meanwhile, James Tarkowski, Joe Gomez, Alfie Mawson, Chris Smalling and Michael Keane are among the central defenders who have been capped by Southgate over the past 12 months.
Yet, despite captaining Newcastle in the Premier League every week, Lascelles has yet to be handed an opportunity to impress on the national stage – with some citing the United defender’s ballplaying ability, which is not one of his strengths, as the primary reason why he has been overlooked, given that Southgate wants his centre-backs to utilise possession.
Interestingly, Lascelles admits he thought he stood a good chance of earning his first cap for the friendlies against the Netherlands and Italy back in March. What’s more, Lascelles then believed he must have been in consideration for the current squad who played Spain in the UEFA Nations League last night and Switzerland in a friendly on Tuesday.
However, the 24-year-old is refusing to be downbeat about Southgate repeatedly omitting him, and instead he will look to continue performing well for Newcastle, and hope that international recognition follows.
“Yeah, it would be nice [to be away with England]. I thought I’d be close to the last friendlies ahead of the World Cup, and the game coming up now I thought I was pretty close,” Lascelles told nufcTV.
“But, again, Southgate has decided to pick who he’s picked, and he’s gone with that team.
“All I can do is focus on Newcastle, and we need to be winning games now. So that’s my priority.
“Of course, if I’m playing well here and the team’s doing well, then the chances of me getting into the England team will be higher than if I’m not doing my job here and we’re not winning games.
“So I’ve got to start off here getting wins, playing well, and then whatever happens, happens.”