Newcastle United centre-backs Fabian Schar and Sven Botman have opened up about their defensive partnership ahead of this weekend's Premier League bout against Tottenham.
The Magpies suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa, a result which could halt their attempt at securing Champions League football for the rest of the season after what was a good run of form.
Eddie Howe's players, including the pair, won't think that way though, as signalled by his play-to-win admission in his pre-match press conference earlier this week.
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"Definitely [one of the worst performances of the season], all of the 90 minutes it didn't feel like us as we know ourselves," Schar admitted to the club's in-house media. "We just need to forget the game as quickly as possible and focus on the next game."
"Almost everything went wrong," Botman agreed. "Like Fab said, we didn't feel like ourselves in terms of putting them under pressure, getting forward and especially on the ball. We just couldn't find our spare man. It was just a day to forget and move on."
Botman's introduction to the Premier League has gone under the radar this season given how seamless the transition has been for the 23-year-old.
There's only been two games this season where the pair haven't played with each other - against Bournemouth in September and Manchester City last month, both of which were not wins.
But Schar has highlighted how the two of them immediately figured out each other's playstyle, something that no doubt has had a positive effect on the team's season so far.
"It's difficult to say [why it clicked], I think. From game one or day one, we were working quite well and understanding the way we speak and play, trying to help each other on the pitch was going really well.
"The feeling is like we've played with each other for a long time, but it's not just us two. There's a lot more things, the whole team, the back four have been helping each other a lot and we're just one part of it."
Despite the pair's formidable partnership on the pitch, outside of matchdays, they're struggling to pair up and take on others at activities around the training ground like teqball and footvolley.
"I don't know why but he always wants to go and play with Alex [Isak] instead," Schar complained. "I don't know, maybe it's because he has a lot of quality!"
"[Bruno and Joelinton] aren't the champs, no. They like to think they are," Botman continued.
"Probably because they're Brazilian, they think that way but I haven't played against them to be fair," Schar laughed.
Ahead of this weekend's match,
"I think we've worked hard after the loss, but we do that every week," Schar continued. "Obviously we had a meeting after the game, went through things, said some things on video on what went wrong.
"We've had a good week in training and now it's down to us to do it on the Sunday against Tottenham."
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