Newcastle United captain Fabricio Coloccini has urged his black-and-white teammates to improve in the new year after the Magpies slumped to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion.
Newcastle were competitive throughout their bottom-of-the-table clash with The Baggies, however, a palpable lack of cutting edge meant that they never looked likely to return from the Midlands with three vital points.
Darren Fletcher’s 78th minute header consigned the Magpies to their second consecutive Premier League defeat, leaving them lingering in the bottom three as a nightmarish 2015 draws to a close.
After a hugely disappointing conclusion to the calendar year, Coloccini offered a frank assessment of Newcastle’s underwhelming display at the Hawthorns and called for significant improvement in 2016.
Speaking to the club’s official website, the Argentine defender said:
“We are all disappointed. It is similar to the Everton game (on Boxing Day), losing by a late goal from a cross.
“We didn’t play well. We had a couple of chances but we didn’t score and we have now lost two games in three days.
“We defended well for big parts of the game but you cannot defend for 95 minutes. The opposition are always going to have a chance that way, and they may score.
“When we get chances we have to take them. The Premier League is very difficult and you have to score when the opportunity is there.
“It has been a very tough year and there are so many things we need to improve on.
Hopefully we can put those things right over the next year, improve on the mistakes we are making. We have to work hard to turn this situation around as soon as possible, and we will do that. We are going to work very hard to get out of the relegation zone.
Current Magpies’ no.1 Rob Elliot has been in terrific form over recent weeks, but, to Steve McClaren’s dismay, the Republic of Ireland stopper was forced to withdraw from the Newcastle starting XI moments before kick-off after coming down with a stomach illness.
Elliot’s last minute replacement Karl Darlow endured a shakey baptism of fire on his Premier League debut for the Toon, and the 25-year-old appeared to be badly at fault for West Brom’s winning goal, as Fletcher’s central header somehow squirmed beneath his body and into the back of the net.
Despite Darlow’s miserable debut between the sticks, Coloccini refused to blame the defeat on the former Nottingham Forest stopper’s harrowing blunder:
“When a player gets injured in the warm-up, or is sick like Robbie, and the team has to change it is always difficult,” he continued.
“But we cannot say that was why we lost. There is always a teammate who can come in and do the same work and today that was Karl.
Karl is a very good goalkeeper, we trust him and have confidence in him. The result was not because of the change.
