Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles has admitted he sometimes found it tough to keep a united dressing room but says his job has been made ‘easier’ thanks to the arrival of more leadership figures at the club such as Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood.
Speaking at the opening of the Newcastle United Foundation building, NUCASTLE, Lascelles opened up on his role as captain as well as adjusting to a role on the bench. Newcastle brought in Trippier, Wood, Dan Burn, Matt Targett and Bruno Guimaraes in January. Trippier's skills as a leader and organiser particularly stood out for fans before his injury.
Asked about the new additions to the squad, Lascelles said: “It’s just made my job so much easier. There have been times here, years here, where I’ve found it difficult trying to keep the dressing room together, keep relationships, keep things positive.
JOIN US - THE EVERYTHING IS BLACK AND WHITE PODCAST LIVE: GET YOUR TICKETS HERE
“But now, when you’ve got five, six or seven players all doing that, it just makes my job so much easier. A lot of the stuff I do isn’t necessarily on the pitch at St James’.
“It’s on the training ground. You look at the bigger teams back in the day, they’d have a group of players. You look at Man U, they’d have a group of players, lieutenants I guess. I think we’ve got that at the minute, like a leadership group. I think that’s a real good thing for the team.
“I think the new players have added to what was already here. The manager was smart about that.
"He didn’t just go for players who are good on the pitch he went for players who are good in the dressing-room. Leaders. Chris Wood from Burnley. A great guy off the pitch. Kieran Tripper, leader. Dan Burn, leader. Matt Targett, he’s played how many games in the Premier League, so you’re talking well-established players.
"And then you’ve got Bruno who has got the quality and has mixed in with the South American boys. The manager knows exactly what he’s doing and, yeah, the shift in mentality is pretty much down to the manager.
"He’s made training so competitive. Every time we train we train to win and we get little rewards if we win, so training is really intense. It’s just a really good place at the minute."
Lascelles has clocked up just 97 minutes of football in the last six games, largely thanks to the form of Fabian Schar and Dan Burn. Once a regular starter, the defender is adjusting to life outside of the XI but says he is focusing on the team’s fortunes and not his own.
“Pretty much but that’s the thing,” he replied when asked about not being in the side. “I have a really good relationship with the manager. We speak a lot. We both know my last game was against Everton at home and we won.
“He hasn’t dragged me out of the team because I was playing badly or my performances weren't good enough. I’m happy the team are playing well and it’s not just my job as captain to drive the team on the pitch, it’s about what happens at the training ground, drive what the manager wants in training. I just want to see us climb up the table.”
Most of the Newcastle squad spent the break between games in Dubai - the club’s second warm-weather training camp of the year. They head out on the back of a double defeat with United losing to both Chelsea and Everton.
Lascelles believes the trip to the Middle East was worthwhile and is hoping the results in the up and coming games - starting with Tottenham this weekend - show that. “We did a lot of training out there and a lot of fitness but also creating that togetherness, spending time outside of training ground.
“I think that’s really important. When we went in today, everybody was telling stories and gelling a little bit better just because you’ve had form with them outside in Dubai. It just creates that togetherness and it’s a good thing. It’s just refreshed us all.
“We could have spent the whole week here training at the training ground and things be a little bit repetitive but got out there, got some warm weather training. Different environment, great facilities and now we are back and refreshed. We were looking forward to going back to the training ground so the gaffer knows what he is doing.”
Asked about the defeat prior to the trip, Lascelles added: “It wasn't a nice feeling after the Everton game, especially when they had 10 men. It was a great opportunity for us.
"That's gone now, we don't need to dwell on it. We just need to get back on track to where we were, hit those same standards and prepare for the game on Sunday."
