Newcastle midfielder Moussa Sissoko believes the club has changed dramatically since last season, according to Chronicle Live.
Sissoko told Newcastle’s official website that the club “feels like a different club” after Steve McClaren’s arrival.
The former England manager was allowed to spend big in the summer transfer window, bringing in a number of new names and faces to St James’ Park, including the controversial Aleksander Mitrovic, who scored his first goal of the season during the international break.
And Sissoko is happy with the changes that McClaren has made.
Yes [Newcastle feels like a different club] because we’ve changed a lot of things. [We have a] new manager, new staff, a lot of new players – so it’s different but I’m happy with that. Everyone is happy.
I think [that’s] because we have a better team than last year but now we have to show on the pitch every week and that’s why on Monday we need to win.
Newcastle face a trip to West Ham on Monday night and Sissoko is confident his side can bag their first three points of the season; despite the 26-year-old having a somewhat mixed past against The Hammers.
The 26-year-old was sent off for two yellow cards within 46 seconds of each other in November last year, before he scored a crucial goal in the 2-0 victory over West Ham on the final day of the season in May.
And the Frenchman is ready to make it back-to-back victories against the East Londoners.
Of course I am now focused and concentrated on the West Ham game because we need to win this first game of the season so I hope we are going to do this on Monday night against West Ham.We know it’s going to be a hard game but we have a good team to go there and try to win the three points.
Sissoko played a key part in France’s victory over Portugal, before being dropped for the game against Mitrovic’s Serbia, but he is now fully focused on matters in the Premier League.
He continued:
For me they [West Ham] are better than last season but we also bought a lot of players so we have a good team. We have to go there with confidence and try to play our game, and if we do that then I think we can get three points.
