There is a growing sense that an endgame has begun at Newcastle United. For many people inside St James’ Park it now seems a case of when rather than if Steve McClaren will be sacked but the former England coach remains determined to prevent the prospect of a fairly imminent departure from becoming an inevitability.
After only two Premier League wins all season McClaren knows he is fast running out of chances to put things right. Accordingly his team and system selection against Jürgen Klopp’s formidably in-form Liverpool on Sunday are likely to reflect the thought processes of a man well aware he could be playing his final hand of cards.
“We’re contemplating everything,” he replied when asked if big changes could be expected. A potential switch to 3-5-2 featuring Jack Colback at left wing-back has been debated and no one is exempt from potentially being dropped.
When Mike Williamson was recalled from a loan stint at Wolves, it appeared McClaren was set to leave out Fabricio Coloccini, his underachieving captain and centre-half, only for that plan to be scuppered when Williamson damaged a hamstring in training.
Asked if Coloccini would retain the captaincy against Liverpool, McClaren’s reply was instructive. “If he plays, yes,” he said. Considering that Coloccini has hitherto been regarded as undroppable and exerts influence in high places at Newcastle, that was a politically loaded statement.
The erratic Moussa Sissoko, too, is a powerful dressing-room figure and, significantly, McClaren revealed he had held private “heart-to-heart” talks with the France midfielder who must also be in peril of demotion to the bench.
“We’ve conceded 30 goals in 14 games and that’s not good enough,” acknowledged a manager whose relegation-threatened team have leaked eight goals in their past two games alone. “We’ve had two clean sheets this season and we’re working on trying to keep more because, otherwise, we’re always going to be in trouble.”
Part of the problem is a pronounced lack of leadership on the pitch among a largely young side. Whereas Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s owner, is said to be concerned about aspects of McClaren’s man-management and apparent failure to motivate his squad, the head coach is deeply frustrated by his lack of autonomy over player recruitment and Ashley’s refusal to sign professionals aged over 26.
“One thing we’ve stressed this week is that players have to talk, encourage and cajole on the pitch,” said McClaren. “That’s not just the captain’s job, it’s something everybody can do. We must talk and encourage. It keeps concentration and focus. When you go quiet, you lose that confidence, concentration and focus, which is what’s been happening.”
Colback believes fragile confidence and lack of mental strength represent key reasons for the refusal of Newcastle’s equation to balance. “It’s quite glaring to see that, when we go behind, we look defeated at the moment as a team,” the midfielder told BBC Radio Newcastle. “That comes with being near the bottom of the table.
“In terms of natural talent this is probably the best group I’ve been in but you’ve got to have a bit of fight and work hard as well. We’ve got to make sure that, when we do go behind, we fight back. We need to get back to basics and start being a bit more difficult to beat.”
After a 3-0 home defeat by Leicester a fortnight ago Newcastle’s normally measured manager attempted to shock first-teamers into a reaction by losing his temper but, with last Saturday’s 5-1 loss at Crystal Palace suggesting that ploy had failed, he has been in calm, philosophical mode over the past few days.
McClaren’s critics, Alan Shearer among them, have argued the 54-year-old is failing to devise coherent gameplans but Colback leapt to his manager’s defence.”I’m not going to get into a debate with Alan Shearer, who is a legend of the club, but there certainly is a plan,” countered Colback. “There’s a plan from the manager, he’s always got a plan. It’s all about us players executing it. The manager can only say and do so much.”
