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Newcastle United star warns fans not to be naive

6 years ago
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Players get credibility when they are happy to speak out when things aren’t going brilliantly, as well as when things are on the up, and Matt Ritchie certainly falls into that category.

Back in August in the build up to the match at Huddersfield, Matt Ritchie stated:

‘We have got a young group and it’s important for us not to get ahead of ourselves if we get good results, not to worry too much if we don’t pick up the results we want.

“We lost our first two games last season and there was no panic – I’m not saying that’s going to happen again but whatever happens there’ll be no panic.’

The team of course did lose against Huddersfield but as the winger predicted, there was no panic where Rafa Benitez was concerned, and three Premier League matches later Newcastle have nine points.

However, despite the three wins Matt Ritchie is still the voice of reason, declaring ‘You would be very naive to look at the table now and get excited’.

Hopefully most Newcastle fans are accepting of this because for example, the players could play reasonably well and yet lose all of their next three matches, with tricky trips to Brighton and Southampton, as well as Liverpool at home.

If that did prove to be the case then I can imagine Matt Ritchie still talking in the same measured way and as he says ‘We need to hit the 40 point mark before we start getting carried away’.

One or more points on Sunday will definitely keep that momentum going towards safety and possibly beyond.

Matt Ritchie:

“You would be very naive to look at the table now and get excited.

“For the fans, they can look at it and be proud, but we are five games in and have nine points on the board.

“We need to hit the 40 point mark before we start getting carried away and like any team, we want to do that as soon as possible.

“Hopefully, we can continue to perform well – with good performances come points.

“Confidence is key but at the same time, we need to make sure that we stick with our mentality and keep our feet on the floor and continue to improve – if we continue to improve, we’ll win games.

“We have to make sure that we stay focused on the job in hand and not get carried away with looking at the table.

“At the minute, it looks rosy, but it is a long season and there will be a lot of ups and downs and we need to make sure that we continue to improve and stay focused on the job in hand.

“I left Bournemouth, which was a fantastic stage and period of my career, and I look at that very proudly and have fantastic memories.

“I made that decision and at the time a lot of people raised eyebrows. 

“We are back in the Premier League, last year went to plan – it could have gone so differently but it didn’t, through a lot of hard work from everyone involved.

“We are now where we want to be but by no means have we achieved anything yet, we are five games in and we need to keep our feet on the floor.

“If you take your foot off the gas you get punished, so we need to keep our feet on the gas and keep improving, raising the bar and getting better because we have to keep winning games.”

strong>Matt Ritchie – 18 August 2017:

“There is no panic.

The manager wants us to stay focused and one of the manager’s biggest strengths, is that he never panics.

“That spreads throughout the group, the group are very calm and we go focused to Huddersfield.

“I don’t think we are going to struggle – I think every game is going to be tough but we’ve got positivity throughout the group.

“The manager stresses to keep on an even keel, whether you’ve won or lost.

“We have got a young group and it’s important for us not to get ahead of ourselves if we get good results, not to worry too much if we don’t pick up the results we want.

“We lost our first two games last season and there was no panic – I’m not saying that’s going to happen again but whatever happens there’ll be no panic.

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