00:07Good morning everyone, welcome to our Premier League press conference to preview our game against Newcastle.
00:14David, first of all, going back to Newcastle, good memories of the last game of last season, I would imagine.
00:18Yeah, it was, thank you. It was a great win for us considering Newcastle.
00:23I think we're trying to qualify for Champions League and did on the end day from their point of view.
00:29But yeah, always good to try and back it up if we can.
00:33It feels like another key moment in your season though with Newcastle just a point behind you.
00:36So again, you're fighting for league position this weekend.
00:39Yeah, but I think the Premier League is like that anyway.
00:42I think there's a lot of teams and one result can send you up a bit or send you down
00:46a bit depending on how it goes.
00:48With Newcastle though, does it in some ways show the difficulty of maintaining league form with European competition as well?
00:54A challenge that you hope will be facing you in the not too distant future?
00:58Well, I think Newcastle have done a remarkable, you know, the last 16 in the Champions League.
01:03The level of the games you have to play in the teams to play in the group stages to be
01:07in that position.
01:08So, great credit to them.
01:11But yeah, it can have an effect on your Premier League games, your bread and butter really.
01:18Much like I'd seen it in the Europa League and the Conference League as well.
01:22As a fellow manager as well, how do you put into context the job that Eddie's done up there?
01:26I think he's done a brilliant job.
01:27I think everybody knows that.
01:28I think he's given Newcastle success.
01:32He's won a trophy with them.
01:33He's getting them in European football, which I'm sure all the Jordies are happy to be watching.
01:39For yourself, David, at the minute, obviously you want your best players on the pitch at any given time.
01:44But when a player is natural in a position and left out for someone who isn't natural in that position,
01:50how much of that is a wake-up call do you hope for them to raise their levels?
01:55I don't quite understand your question, but you can ask me again.
01:59Obviously, with Jared playing left-back, for instance, or Harrison playing out down the left-hand side,
02:05there are players who can come in who are natural in that position.
02:08If those players are being left out, are you asking for them, look, your levels need to be that much
02:13higher?
02:13No, not really.
02:14I think it's the first time we've probably had enough players to rotate and try things.
02:19Jared Brantwaite is as comfortable at left-back as he is at centre-back.
02:24I think I mentioned on TV, quite often when you're a young midfield player, central midfield player,
02:30you find your way into the first team, probably playing off the sides.
02:33I think Mikel Arteta, when he came here, probably had to do the same thing.
02:37I mentioned when you're a young centre-back, quite often you find your way getting into the team,
02:41starting at full-back because that's where you are.
02:44That's where you're put because you're probably not physically and all the levels ready to do it in the big
02:51positions.
02:52It's part of it. Harrison is great development for him, getting plenty of games.
02:57Jared Brantwaite, as I said, is comfortable in both positions, so it's easy.
03:00We've also got enough players to rotate around a little bit.
03:04Do you feel as well, though, at this point in the season, it's one of those periods where the fine
03:07margins
03:08are just going a little bit against you?
03:11I say that because of the five defeats in the last 13, only two have been by more than one
03:16goal.
03:18Yeah, the games have been tight, but the Premier League is suggesting that all season.
03:22I think it will remain tight, the way the teams are.
03:25There's a lot of teams fighting, probably from 7th position down to about 15th.
03:31You could end up anywhere, really, in those league positions at the moment.
03:34So every win you get is important.
03:37Every defeat, it's been quite narrow in a lot of the games.
03:41We have spoken many times about the opportunity to qualify for Europe this season,
03:47and it's obviously still there, but at the same time, how much of achievement would it still be
03:51to finish in the top half at least anyway, given where you've come from?
03:54Well, we're not quite ready to give up that what ambition is to try and make Europe,
03:59so we don't want to give that up. We're going to try and keep going for it.
04:02Why would we not? I could easily turn up here and say,
04:05hey, by the way, we're having a pretty comfortable season, so let's forget about it.
04:10But it's the opposite. We're desperately trying to keep pushing.
04:13I think I said a few weeks ago we'll need to win some big games on the journey
04:17if we're going to do that, and we'll get a really big game at Newcastle coming up tomorrow.
04:21Let's take a good look. Cheers.
04:25Hi there.
04:27With 11 games to go, in terms of league position and points,
04:31are you where you want to be, or is there a sense of frustration,
04:36especially with some of those narrow defeats, that you could be a little bit higher?
04:41Yeah, we could be, but we also have had quite a lot of narrow victories away from home as well.
04:46We've won games tightly.
04:49You only need to think and go back to Old Trafford.
04:51We won with 10 men at Old Trafford on the night.
04:54We got a goal in the last second against Brighton,
04:57so we've done the same away from home as well.
05:00But this is what I'm referring to.
05:02I think the Premier League this year is really tight,
05:04and there's not many games I think you're running away with them in any way.
05:09We got a really good result against Fulham a couple of weeks ago away from home.
05:14But again, incredibly tight the games.
05:16Nothing has stood out really in any of the games that you've won really comfortably or won by many goals.
05:23We certainly have, that's for sure.
05:25And in terms of Premier League away games, St James' Park is always special, isn't it?
05:32It's always a great stadium.
05:35I think it's a real iconic sort of stadium, really fitting for the North East really in some ways, St
05:42James' Park.
05:44And I think over the years I've done a really good job in trying to better it inside the stadium,
05:50enhance it.
05:52And, you know, I don't think it would be easy to get a ticket for any Newcastle game at the
05:56moment, that's for sure.
05:57And just finally from me, I want to focus on James Garner.
06:01How good is he and how much better can he get in the time that you've managed him?
06:08I think James Garner's played really well this season.
06:15He's predominantly a midfield player but can play in several positions.
06:18We had to play him left back at the start of the season in a couple of games when we
06:24didn't have MD available.
06:26And we've had to play him at right back in different times because we think he's as good as MD
06:30there.
06:31And also, you know, but in midfield he's been excellent.
06:36I actually believe he's getting close to being the levels to play for his country.
06:44So hopefully he can keep that up and could possibly get selected.
06:48Best of luck. Thank you, David.
06:54Just on that, James Garner, the stats at the moment.
06:56He's in the top five players in the Premier League group.
06:59When you add them all together, so people like Declan Rice, he's in that level of stats.
07:04When you take him out the midfield, is that a big risk for you and how do you balance that
07:09up?
07:09It's a big risk because we know he's so good in there.
07:12But sometimes you have to make these decisions and think what are the best options.
07:18Does that show still how small your squad is and the work that's still to do?
07:23I think that we've said quite often that we've probably been short of a right back.
07:28I think we made that clear that we were looking, even said I think we've been looking for about a
07:32year for one.
07:33So I think we've been short at times in that area.
07:37But Jake O'Brien's done a great job for us over.
07:40I think when I came in, not much more than just over a year ago now.
07:44Everybody was looking for Jake to be in the team.
07:46We got him in the team.
07:49And he's done a great job at right back, really.
07:51He really has.
07:52The home game, you were massively disappointed with the performance against Newcastle.
07:58Are you a different side now, moving on?
08:00Have you improved in areas, do you feel?
08:03I don't know about that, because obviously we're without Jack Grealish,
08:06who's made a huge impact in the early part of the season for us.
08:10I hope we're a bit more streetwise than we were that night.
08:13We lost a couple of goals from corner kicks,
08:15which was probably the key part of the game, if we've been honest.
08:20And we lost a goal after 25 seconds.
08:23So we were on the back foot from minute one.
08:25So hopefully we can overcome those parts of the game.
08:29But Newcastle are a good side.
08:33They're beating good teams in Europe.
08:35So it's not going to be an easy game.
08:37When you talk about having to move people into other positions,
08:42Asnu, Dibling, Merlin Roll, they're younger members of your squad.
08:45How close are they to get into a starting position?
08:49Some of them quite close, some of them not so close.
08:53We're trying to keep our ambitions going and trying to see if we can be near the top
08:58or stay in the top half of the league.
09:01If we're lucky enough, we'll make Europe.
09:03So I want to try and play the players who I think are the best chance of getting us those
09:07results.
09:08What do they have to do then?
09:11Improve.
09:13Simple as that.
09:15Can I just quickly check on injuries?
09:17Obviously, apart from the obvious ones, there's no Jack Grealish.
09:20Everyone else okay?
09:21Charlie Alcaraz has got an injury, which is probably going to keep him out for three weeks or four weeks,
09:28we think.
09:29He picked it up in the last minute in training on Sunday, I think it was.
09:36So he was a bit unfortunate.
09:38That's frustrating for him as well, isn't it?
09:40Yeah, because he would have probably started on Monday night if he hadn't picked up the injury.
09:46Thank you, good luck.
09:47Thanks, Julie.
09:48Any further questions in the open section before we move on?
09:51No? Okay, thank you.
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