Steve McClaren puts Newcastle's revival down to his players turning nasty

Steve McClaren taking Newcastle training ahead of their clash with Aston Villa

 

STEVE McCLAREN claims Newcastle's recent revival is down to his players turning nasty.

 

Having been a soft touch for most of the season, Newcastle can climb into mid-table by following up shock wins over Liverpool and Tottenham with a third on the trot against rock-bottom Aston Villa this evening.

And McClaren puts their dramatic improvements down to some anger management on the training pitch.

The Toon boss never tried to deny reports of training-ground spats and bust-ups in the wake of the 5-1 debacle at Crystal Palace last month.

And while he is reluctant to go into details, McClaren fed off the anger, shame and disappointment of his players to build a platform to fight back.

 

"You can be analytical in a serene way and sometimes, you have to create conflict and there was a bit of conflict," he said.

"The key thing is we are consistent in our message, whether we win, lose or draw so the process was just the same, just a little bit more vocal than normal.

"The players provided the edge themselves. They were hurt by all the criticism and have responded in the right way. In a way both ourselves and the fans would like.

"You're going to lose games and you have to accept criticism but then you have to do something about it and that's exactly what we've done."

McClaren, however, is aware that historically, Newcastle are at their most vulnerable when expectations rise and he knows complacency could be their biggest enemy against Villa.

 

"Everyone keeps telling us it would be typical Newcastle to lose this one," he said. "We've heard it and the players have heard it so we've got the message loud and clear. We'll do everything to try and avoid that."

Victory could take the Geordies five points clear of the drop zone but McClaren remains wary.

"You're never out of it," he said. "Even when you think you are.

"You always look ahead and think, 'Oh, look at the next three games, if you don't do this or that, oh my God, we'll be back down there'.

"To be well clear would be nice but we're not away from it - we're still fighting."