Head coach Steve McClaren has heaped praise on Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez, but admitted the victory over Tottenham Hotspur was down to the character the players showed themselves at half time – because apparently he couldn’t shut them up.
In quotes carried by Sky Sports from his after game press conference, McClaren said that with plenty of criticism coming their way this year, the players took it on themselves to lead the talk at half time and he was delighted with the character shown in that minute and then the renewed second half effort.
‘Half-time was a big test for this team. We’ve come in at half-time before and the dressing room has been quiet and disappointed, but it was so vocal. There was such a determination among the players not to lead down the normal path of losing the game. The response in the second half was fantastic. We grew, got stronger and deserved the win. There was so much going on at half-time. Robbie Elliot, Fabricio Coloccini but, to be fair, all of them were noisy. We couldn’t shut them up and they took it on board.’
With Newcastle not having won back to back games since November 2014, McClaren knew that was a huge boost for us this weekend, and hopefully it’s two on the trot of many more to come.
‘The pleasing thing for me is that we’ve not won back-to-back games for over a year, not had a comeback win for about a year, so to do it was immense. They’re all together and they are delighted. We’ve had difficult times but we’ve asked for consistency and the last two weeks have provided that, on the back of a lot of criticism. It’s brought everybody closer together to be perfectly honest, but there is still a long way to go and a lot of work to do.’
The Shields Gazette also carry quotes from the gaffer where he says that benched Mitrovic and Perez gave him the exact response he wanted from them in the game when they were introduced as substitutes late on and of course with both of them scoring, you can see why he says that.
‘All you ask for from players is to give a response. If you`re on the bench, you want an impact. In the last two weeks Ayoze and Mitro have not played, so they`re disappointed. You can be disappointed and come on and not perform. They were disappointed, but came on and showed they wanted to play and changed the game – well, not changed the game, because I thought we were growing into the game anyway. But they`ve won the game for us. It shows what an immense talent they are, both of them. They`re still inexperienced, and that has shown this season, but this will do them both and the team a world of good.’
Perez himself was briefly interviewed following the game and his obviously delight at the goal and the victory given his full time response, and he said.
‘It is amazing, you have to live it to know what I am talking about. This feeling in the dressing room is amazing now, so we are going to try and have that feeling more. We now have two home games (Villa and Everton) to give these supporters what they deserve. Really happy to get that winning goal, so important for us, this win. Everyone is happy. It is amazing that moment, the same as last year, that I repeated. I think after half-time we changed a few things and that made the difference. We have kept believing in ourselves, who we are, through the tough weeks and now we are getting the results. We are working together and have confidence, confidence and work are the key.’
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