The fight is there ... we just need a victory now

WIN OVER WATFORD CAN KICKSTART TOON’S SEASON

NEWCASTLE United’s game at Southampton won’t live long in the memory, but I found it encouraging.

We’re fighting. Watching the lowlights of Saturday’s 0-0 draw, I could see a team that is fighting for its Premier League status.

It wasn’t pretty but we got a point – and every one is precious when you’re in the position we’re in – and a clean sheet. We’re off the bottom of the table and that means a lot.

I will take a 0-0 at Southampton so long as they take the handbrake off when they play at home to the teams they should be beating.

The next two games at St James’ Park are against Watford and Bournemouth, who’ve both had good starts – but I still think they’re teams we should be going at.

Watford have won their last two but before that they went five without a win, including back-to-back defeats, so we shouldn’t be scared of them. And Bournemouth are a nice team – if you allow them to play, they will, but they’ll give you a chance.

For Newcastle it’s just about getting the right blend between defence and attack, home and away football.

Alan Shearer, Malcolm Macdonald and me would all have struggled to score goals in this team because they’re not creating enough chances.

It’d like to see Jonjo Shelvey playing ten yards up the field and the likes of Matt Ritchie, Ayoze Perez and Yoshinori Muto getting up to support the No 9.

Salomon Rondon would always be my choice at the head of the attack because he can hold the ball up and bring others into play better than Joselu, who’s not prolific. The jury’s still out on Muto as a Premier League player but he looks more like a second striker to me.

The players will have come away from Southampton with a bit of pride. This group is good enough as long as they believe in themselves.

They can’t go blaming Mike Ashley for individual performances. Footballers will always look for an excuse.

I’ve been in dressing rooms at the wrong end of the table and you can look around and see players curling up under the pressure. It’s just human nature. I’m not saying people are cowards, but they’d be looking to other people to score the goals and lead the way – to me in the dressing rooms I was in.

But this group at Newcastle know they can pick themselves up off the floor because they did it last season.

What we need from them now is pretty much the same again, when they came out of a terrible run of nine matches without a win and finished in the top half.

The upside of having made so few transfers in the summer is that we know this group of players can do it – and they know it too.

They just need to come together as a group to get out of this hole they’re in. It’s about proving to themselves that they’re good enough to play in the Premier League, and not letting their careers go down the pan.

They just need a win to kick-start the season. I’m hoping they go all out to get it against Watford on Saturday.