Newcastle can´t handle adversity – McClaren

Steve McClaren admitted Newcastle United look unable to overcome adversity after they spurned a one-goal lead to lose 5-1 at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.

Papiss Cisse gave the visitors an early lead at Selhurst Park against former manager Alan Pardew’s men, but James McArthur, Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha turned the game on its head before the break before McArthur and Bolasie twisted the knife in the second half.

McClaren will bring his players into training on Sunday in an attempt to spark them back into life after an eighth defeat of the season left them second from bottom.

When asked how he plans to turn things around, McClaren said: “You’ve just got to keep doing the right things, you’ve just got to keep driving, just got to keep going, just got to keep highlighting – because what we’re doing, we’re not handling adversity very well.

“We started the game brightly, we asked for a reaction [to last week’s 3-0 defeat to Leicester City], we got that first 10-15 minutes, we got the first goal and we looked bright.

“A couple of mistakes we end up 3-1, a fourth after that and we were never going to come back.

“As I say these players have got to come through this, we all have to come through it, but there’s no one more determined than me, starting tomorrow morning.”

 McClaren was handed a contract that could be extended over eight years when hired in June, but accepts he will quickly come under fire if results do not pick up.

“It’s football, it’s the Premier League and there is no patience possible,” he said. 

“The people who have to keep patient is people like us who are working with the players, we’ve got to know where we’re going and we’ve got to know it’s not a magic wand that you can instantly change this group of players.

“We’ve tried, we’ve had good games, bad games. We’ve had good moments in games and then bad moments in games and there’s no consistency.”