Captain Cool says keep the faith
PLAYERS BELIEVE THEY CAN TURN SEASON AROUND
JAMAAL Lascelles says the Newcastle United squad all believe they will turn things around this season.
The Magpies skipper admitted things did not go as planned during the 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers but the centre-back is refusing to hit the panic button.
United have six more points than they did at the same stage last season but now face an acid test in November.
The Magpies had just three points from their first 10 league games, compared with nine points this time around.
It was during November Rafa Benitez’s side won three games with the former Liverpool boss winning manager of the month.
United must now start putting some wins together if they are to retain their record of being in better shape than the first part of the 2018/19 campaign.
Lascelles told The Chronicle: “We have to look at how we can do better in games. “Hopefully, we can correct things for West Ham.
“It’s another game when we put in a good performance against Wolves in the first half but couldn’t see it through.
“It’s encouraging that we performed bigger teams on the day, Man United and Tottenham, and Chelsea to an extent.
“We are putting in performances. We are at the bottom of the table, yes, but we can definitely not panic. “With our performances it is only a matter of time before things start to click. It will come.”
There were pockets of boos at the end of the Wolves game, but Lascelles thanked the fans for getting behind the team last Sunday.
The away end at London Stadium has sold out, with 3,000 Geordies heading for Stratford on Saturday afternoon.
He said: “I think the fans were confident that we could get a result against Wolves. You could sense it. They were behind us and felt we could do it. We can’t fault them.
“Home or away they are excellent, it’s just a shame we couldn’t give them three points versus Wolves.”
When asked what had gone wrong against Wolves, Lascelles said: “The first half was pretty comfortable. We kept possession and were a goal up.
“The second half wasn’t good enough. We dropped deep and it was only a matter of time before they scored.”
One of the pleasing factors for Lascelles was netting his first goal of the season with a bullet header at the Leazes End.
He said: “I was pleased to get on the score sheet but it would have been better if we’d have got the three points.”
We are putting in performances. We are bottom of the table, yes, but we can definitely not panic
Jamaal Lascelles