Steve McClaren admits row with Newcastle captain Fabricio Coloccini was to get reaction
McClaren admitted his coaching staff had deliberately tried to provoke a reaction from his players this week
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Your support makes all the difference.Steve McClaren has confirmed he confronted his club captain, Fabricio Coloccini, as a result of Newcastle’s abject surrender against Leicester City last week.
The move is hugely significant given Coloccini’s prominent position inside St James’ Park. Last year he led calls for Hatem Ben Arfa to be removed from the first-team squad and the then Newcastle manager Alan Pardew followed his demands. The Argentine centre-half also retains a strong relationship with the Newcastle owner, Mike Ashley.
McClaren, however, who has identified the chronic mental weakness in the squad he inherited from Pardew and John Carver, was prepared to talk about the confrontations that took place at the club’s Benton training ground at the start of the week as Newcastle prepared for today’s game at Crystal Palace.
The 3-0 defeat to Leicester typified much that has happened at St James’ over the last three-and-a-half years. Newcastle have lost 27 Premier League games on home soil in that period, and the hostile reaction the players faced was the first time this season the fans’ patience has snapped.
The head coach and his coaching staff were vocal in their criticism of Coloccini and senior members of the squad in training on Monday.
McClaren was asked directly how the 33-year-old Argentine, who was given a new contract in the summer, reacted. “He’s been very good,” replied McClaren. “Did he react how I wanted? Yep. Very good. Is he still captain? Absolutely. This is a team sport and we don’t pick out individuals.
“I wasn’t happy with anybody’s [leadership] last week. You can’t play football silent and that’s what we did. So people have questioned Colo. I will say the previous week against Bournemouth we didn’t defend very well but he got blocks and headers and tackles and his performance was excellent.
“His was a man-of-the-match performance but for Robbie Elliot. Against Manchester United, and in other games, he’s been excellent. Again it’s not one player, it’s consistently the team who you’re playing with, and all 11 being consistent. That’s what we’re battling at the present moment, that consistency.”
McClaren admitted his coaching staff had deliberately tried to provoke a reaction from his players this week. Indeed, the swearing ban he implemented at the training ground after arriving at the club in the summer was broken by the head coach himself. “My swearing went right out of the window,” he admitted. “But that’s football and that’s typical. Each week is different and you have to respond differently, and last week was definitely a different response.”
He would not reveal publicly how a group of players who are once more being questioned about their lack of resilience reacted to criticism. “I think that’s something that’s private in the dressing room. It’s a very good question but... I’d love to answer it, but..”
Instead, McClaren reaffirmed his commitment to his position at the club. He was asked if he had thought about walking away, following a difficult start to his career at the club and encountering deep-seated problems.
“Ah no, no,” McClaren said. “Absolutely, I knew this was tough and for all the comments from other people, we knew it was going to be tough. We all did. It’s about turning it around and it’s a long process, and a painful one at times.
“How long a process? You know that’s a good question. How long’s a piece of string? I don’t like watching my teams performing like they did last week. That was painful to watch. What I like to do is get out on to the training field and do something about it.
“There is no self-doubt. No. None whatsoever. We know the process. We’ve got great staff here. Behind the scenes it’s excellent; the staff and the players. Everybody’s been fantastic. Everybody wants to get better and there’s just something that we need to add to it and that will take time. Do the players care? Yes.
“We’ve had a great week on the training pitch. It’s been feisty, competitive, energetic, all the things we lacked last Saturday. I love feisty sessions, and it was. We got the message across. It was just what we needed.”
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