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| Sergio Aguero scored five quick-fire goals for Manchester City in their 6-1 win against Newcastle |
STEVE MCCLAREN acknowledged the brilliance of five-goal Sergio Aguero but questioned the character of his Newcastle players after their alarming capitulation.
McClaren took some solace from the fact that Manchester City's front trio of Aguero, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne will inflict this sort of damage on many teams this season.
But he admits he faces a massive task to change the losing culture that has developed over a disastrous 18-month period at St James' Park.
Newcastle played with discipline, determination and endeavour for 42 minutes but as soon as Aguero headed his first to cancel out Aleksandar Mitrovic's early strike they offered pathetic resistance as City scored five times in the first 17 minutes after the break.
The surrender came a week after they had thrown away a 2-0 lead over Chelsea and left McClaren worried about a lack of mental strength among his players to sustain performances for 90 minutes.
He is well aware that the problems go way back: Newcastle, who are bottom, have won only three of their 27 Premier League games in 2015.
"This is not just happening now," said McClaren. "It's been happening for 12-18 months at this football club and we have to turn it round. Do the players have the mentality? Well, they're going to have to start doing it otherwise we're in a fight for the rest of the season. That's the reality.
"We have had spells in games when we look very good and other spells when you collapse in a matter of minutes. That's not going to get us anywhere. We're just not consistent over 90 minutes. We need to deal with setbacks better than we are doing at the moment but it's something in the history [of the club] and we knew it would be hard to turn around."
City manager Manuel Pellegrini says Aguero cannot fail to score thanks to the supply lines provided by Silva and new boy De Buryne but believes his team will need to conquer Europe for him to challenge Messi and Ronaldo's monopoly of the Ballon D'Or.
"After what we have seen today, 'Kun' is at that level," he said, "but as a team we must continue to improve and win the Premier League again and the Champions League because Messi and Ronaldo are always involved in the later stages of that competition and that is very important for a player."
Man City (4-2-3-1): Hart 6; Zabaleta 6, Otamendi 6, Mangala 6, Kolarov 6; Fernando 6, Fernandinho 7; Silva 9 (Iheancho 75, 6), De Bruyne 8, Sterling 6 (Navas 46, 6); Aguero 10 (Bony 66, 6). Booked: Fernandinho, Zabaleta, Mangala. Goals: Aguero 42, 48, 49, 59, 62. De Bruyne 53. NEXT UP: Bournemouth (h), Oct 17 PL.
Newcastle (4-2-3-1): Krul 7; Janmaat 6, Mbemba 5, Coloccini 6; Mbabu 6 (Lascelles 53, 5); Gouffran 5 (Thauvin 66, 5), Anita 5; Sissoko 5 (Tiote 66, 5), Perez 5, Wijnaldum 7; Mitrovic 6. Booked: Anita. Goal: Mitrovic 17. NEXT UP: Norwich (h), Sun Oct 18 PL.
Referee: K. Friend (Leics).
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| Newcastle boss Steve McClaren acknowledged the brilliance of Ageuro but questioned his players |
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