Lascelles: I’m sorry, the fans deserve better
CAPTAIN SAYS HOME FORM HAS BEEN UNACCEPTABLE
JAMAAL Lascelles admits he “feels sorry” for Newcastle United fans given the Magpies’ poor home form this season – and hopes to give them an early Christmas present by claiming all three points against Fulham on Saturday.
The Magpies have lost seven of their nine matches at St James’ Park this season, the most home defeats suffered by any side in the top four divisions, and have collected just six points from a possible 27 available.
Aside from back-to-back victories over Watford and AFC Bournemouth last month, Newcastle have failed to collect a point on Tyneside this season.
Magpies’ captain Lascelles accepts such home form is unacceptable and believes United fans deserve better at St James’ Park.
Given the fact bottom-of-thetable Fulham are one of Newcastle’s direct relegation rivals, the centre-back knows a victory on Tyneside this weekend would be precious in terms of his team’s survival hopes.
The 25-year-old – who is fit to play despite wearing a cast to cover a minor wrist injury, said ahead of the crunch clash: “They are bottom of the league but they have good players in their team. Mitro’s
a good striker and they have a good midfield - they try to play good football, too.
“Every game in the Premier League is a difficult game, there is not one game where you think: ‘Yeah, we will easily beat them.’
“So we just need to make sure we prepare in the right way and with the same attitude we did at the weekend.
“However, we are paid to do our jobs and they are coming to St James’ Park, so we will be full of confidence.
“Hopefully we can get a good win in front of the fans because they deserve it and I do feel sorry for them at times.
“That is football and hopefully a nice win on Saturday can allow us to make the gap even bigger and then enjoy the Christmas period.
“Well, I cannot really enjoy the Christmas period as I would want to because of all the games and stuff but it would be nice to get a few good wins just before Christmas.”
The 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town last weekend saw Newcastle rise to 14th in the Premier League table, four points clear of the drop zone.
Newcastle fans can be buoyed by the Magpies’ record against teams below them in the table this season, United unbeaten in matches against five of those six sides – although all of those games were admittedly on the road. Lascelles was pleased United players raised their levels against Huddersfield following an underwhelming performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers the weekend before - and hopes they have now gathered some momentum ahead of a hectic festive fortnight.
“After the Wolves game we knew it was not good enough,” Lascelles added, reflecting upon the 2-1 defeat in United’s last home outing. “We went to Huddersfield in what we knew would be a massive game and getting the win, getting the clean sheet, was really important.
“It gives us momentum, another foot in the right direction, and we have a lot of games coming up now so it is about building that momentum further and keeping going.”
The Magpies’ victory at the John Smith’s Stadium was built upon their defence, United ceding more than 70% possession to the Terriers.
Lascelles has been impressed by the form of his fellow defenders, and has backedf Fabian Schar and Ciaran Clark to excel against Fulham, too, if they are called upon.
While a victory over Fulham would really strengthen Newcastle’s position and see them move ahead of the onepoint-per-game ratio needed for survival, a defeat would drag them into deeper trouble so Lascelles knows it is vital the Magpies back-up their win at Huddersfield with another three points.
The captain went on: : “Every game is massive for us. The Huddersfield win was huge, especially at this time of the year.
“It is just about keeping our heads down, keep trying to get as many points as we can and if we carry on how we are playing and training I am pretty sure we will.”
Hopefully we can get a good win in front of the fans because they deserve it Jamaal Lascelles