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Newcastle: Chris Waugh claims dressing room is now jaded

Newcastle: Chris Waugh claims dressing room is now jaded - Newcastle United News

Journalist Chris Waugh has insisted that people inside the Newcastle United dressing room recognise that the players are ‘jaded’.

The Lowdown: Newcastle now in a slump

Despite being on a 17-game unbeaten run in the Premier League, sitting in the top four and with a cup final on the horizon, it appears as though Newcastle are struggling to find form following the World Cup.

The Magpies have drawn five out of their last six games in the league, which has seen them drop points against relegation-threatened outfits Bournemouth, Leeds United and West Ham.

It appears that something mooted in recent weeks is how tired and jaded the Newcastle players now look after putting so much into their season to find themselves in this marvellous position.

The Latest: Players starting to look tired

Waugh has revealed on Pod on the Tyne that people from inside the Newcastle dressing room are now of the belief that the squad is looking jaded and tired heading into the cup final.

He said: “For the first time, I exchanged a few messages with people inside the dressing room, there was even an acceptance that they probably were jaded down there [Bournemouth] – and that was from people even inside the dressing room.

“So I think there is an acceptance they’ve reached a stage of the season both physically, in terms of just the number of players who’ve gone down and who they’re having to use over and over again; Eddie Howe has sort of 14 or 15 players he calls upon over and over again, which says a lot about squad depth.

“But then also psychologically, the fact that it probably has slipped towards Wembley that this cup final – for a lot of players, the majority of players in that dressing room haven’t won something before. There are some, the likes of Sean Longstaff and Dan Burn, who obviously have that emotional connection with the club and how huge a day out they realise that’s going to be.”

The Verdict: Momentum key for the cup final

It is only natural that the Newcastle squad are starting to feel tired and leggy given how much that the core group of players have been playing thus far, but they shouldn’t be short of motivation.

That is because they welcome Liverpool to St James’ Park on Saturday as they look to avenge the Reds – who are the only team to have beaten them in the league this season – while players will be looking to earn their place in the cup final next weekend.

If the players head into the Liverpool game with an eye on the cup final, they risk not being fully focused and potentially more at risk of picking up an injury by not going full-heartedly into tackles and challenges, while a poor performance could also see them fall out of favour with Howe at the worst possible time.

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