19 Things We Learned From Steve McClaren's BBC Radio Newcastle Interview
12. Newcastle Are Still Looking For Defensive Reinforcements
It's the key area that a vast majority of Newcastle United fans want to get sorted before the end of the transfer window and Steve McClaren wanted to reassure everyone that the club is still actively looking to bring a higher quality of player in, but will be drilling the current players to make them into a better unit just in case transfers don't happen.
"Watching Newcastle last season you won't win anything, you can't do anything, you will be in trouble conceding the amount of goals that we did last season. We can't do that, it's one of the first things I've said we need addressing. "Honestly, we've worked through and through tirelessly trying to find the quality and the kind of defenders we want to improve that defence. "We've signed Mbemba, he's been training with us for a few days and he's been absolutely terrific. Yes it's come a little bit too late, but we've had to wait for that. "But the key thing for me, and the most important thing is, we do need the personnel, we do need defenders, we do need them doing their jobs but for me defending is a team thing and everybody has the work. "We're not just looking at one personnel, we're looking at organisation, we're looking at making sure we press from the front, we work hard from the front, we work hard from wide, our midfield give us good protection. And then ultimately if them two banks of front and midfield we've got a back four that can deal with it, and if they can't Tim Krul behind to sweep up. "Believe you me, I come into a football club and want to score goals and win games, but you don't win anything with a bad defence and that's one thing we're trying to address. "Also, the chat I've had with Coloccini and him saying 'I want to be at Newcastle', I think that adds strength to it. Mbemba is going to be a good player."
Steve then went on to tell us that Dummett, who he has high hopes for, will be back in training on Monday while in Daryl Janmaat United have "one of the best right-backs in the Premier League". It's a little disconcerting to hear him covering his back about failures to get players over THAT line in the transfer window. Although, he is recognised as a far better coach than either Alan Pardew or John Carver were so should be able to get more out of the players already at his disposal.
