Merino: I’m not back up to speed yet
STAR ADMITS HE’S SHORT OF FITNESS
NEWCASTLE United ace Mikel Merino admits he is still playing catch-up when it comes to his fitness levels.
The former Borussia Dortmund man missed part of last month due to a back injury but has returned to the firstteam picture and enjoyed a useful 90-minute run-out at West Brom on Tuesday night.
Now Merino is hoping to add to that at Chelsea this weekend.
Merino said: “My fitness is improving. I am not at 100% yet, but I am here to help the team.
“It doesn’t matter if I am a little bit injured or 100% good, I will still give everything I can on the pitch.
“Sometimes, things do not go as you would want, but the important thing is that I feel better every time I play. I can feel my fitness coming back.
“I am not at 100% yet, either with my back or physically with my fitness, but I am improving and I am happy with that.”
Merino hopes that Newcastle have turned the corner after ending a run of four straight defeats this week with a draw against the Baggies.
He reflected: “It was a great point for us. The way we started the match is not the way we want to do things, and when you go 2-0 behind, it is always hard to make a comeback.
“This team never gives up though, and I think we did a great job in the second half.
“We have to take care that we do not continue conceding last-minute goals at the end of the first half, but we have to keep going and keep fighting. “We knew this league would be difficult, and we always knew we would win and lose games. But at the end, we got a draw that was good for us. “It was very important to put an end to the run of defeats. I think another team with four straight losses might have put their heads down when they were 2-0 behind. But we are fighters. We did not think like that. “We knew we had to fight for every ball, every time in every minute. “We did that, so we came away with a lot of pride.” After fighting back from two goals down, Merino also feels that the spirit in the camp has grown. He said: “It is always a big confidence boost when you come back to get a result like that. “We know it will be a really hard game at the weekend, and we will have to do a lot of working and a lot of running. “But we will be going there with a positive result behind us, and looking to play positive football. “We might have to make a few adjustments in defence because we are letting in too many goals, but we showed some good signs to come back (at West Brom) and we know what we have to do.”