Lascelles sticking to the message as Toon face Amex cruncher
JAMAAL Lascelles believes Newcastle United must “stick with” the current set-up at St James’ Park to avoid relegation.
The Magpies made a change in the dugout in both 2009 and 2016 when the club went down into the Sky Bet Championship.
However, skipper Lascelles is seeing green shoots of recovery from Newcastle and is confident his side can climb away from the drop zone in the final 10 matches of the season.
Lascelles said: “It takes character, leadership and we have to stick together.
“The positive thing is we have a really tight group and we all want to succeed.
“The performances have been a lot better compared to the those at the start of the season.
“It is three draws now but we need to start ipcking up three points and winning games.”
United’s last three matches have all been labelled as “must-win” affairs going into them but, while draws are better than defeats, the Tynesiders have dropped six points.
Looking ahead to Saturday night’s trip to the Amex Stadium to face Brighton - who yesterday won the South Coast derby against Southampto to go two points clear of the Magpies - Lascelles admits United need to get their act together and start securing maximum hauls of points.
The central defender said: “We would have been devastated if we had lost to Villa but the fact we went on and made it 1-1 shows we are still fighting.
“It shows we have a lot of personality and character.
“We have togetherness and we have to stick with it.”