Taylor searches for a way to end slump

Mar 10 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

STEVEN Taylor has admitted even he cannot believe how tough Newcastle United have found life under Kevin Keegan as the feeling of crisis around the club deepened at the weekend.

As if being beaten 3-0 at Liverpool was not bad enough, James Milner left Anfield on crutches, Reading’s surprise win against Manchester City and Wigan’s draw with Arsenal last night saw the Magpies drop to 15th in the Premier League, and owner Mike Ashley was reportedly abused verbally by travelling supporters.

Newcastle are still yet to win after eight games under Keegan’s management, and have not won in the league under anyone since defeating Fulham on December 15. Their record this calendar year is the worst of any of England’s 92 league clubs.

England Under-21 captain Taylor admits it beggars belief. “It’s mad,” he said. “I can’t believe myself how hard it’s been for us to win since the Fulham game, it’s crazy.”

Milner left the ground on crutches and with his right foot in a protective boot after kicking the studs of Liverpool midfielder Lucas. With their next game at Birmingham City a week today, the winger was hopeful the injury is no more than bruising. But with United’s luck as it is at present, it would not be a surprise if he had suffered another in the spate of metatarsal injuries in recent seasons.

While Milner was trying to run off the problem, Jose Enrique’s attempted clearance cannoned off Jermaine Pennant for the first of three Liverpool goals in eight minutes of playing time.

Newcastle have made a worrying habit of conceding goals in batches, something else which is mystifying central defender Taylor. “I don’t know why, it’s happened a lot for the last few months,” he said. “It’s frustrating for all the players and the lads had their heads down for a bit but we have to stick together, it’s a massive factor now and we know we have to do it.

“There’s no point blaming other players, we have to look in the mirror, react and put in that bit more. At half-time the manager told us we were still in the game, we had to just keep doing what we’d been doing and it would come. We felt we were still in it. We looked at them before the game at set-pieces and I honestly believed we could have got a goal and frustrate them, but the third goal was a killer.”

Taylor felt Newcastle paid the price for showing too much respect for Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, who scored Liverpool’s other two goals. “We frustrated them pretty well and you could see some of the Liverpool players getting frustrated, the fans got a little quiet,” Taylor noted. “But (Pennant’s) was a freak goal and it just killed our team shape.

“You blink and it’s 2-0. Gerrard and Torres are good players but there’s only so much

respect you can give them and for 42 minutes we handled them pretty well. But a freak goal went in, it killed us a bit and we felt a bit sorry for ourselves. You’ve got to realise you’re in the Premiership and you can’t afford to do that.

“We’ve got Birmingham next and that’s all we’re looking forward to now. Everyone’s got to make sure we get on-side and we’ll get a result there, simple as that. They’re below us and we’ve got to make sure we win.”

Ashley generally sits with the Newcastle fans rather than in the directors box at away games, and reports in Liverpool claim he was targeted by angry supporters on Saturday. After the third goal a Magpies fan is said to have accused the billionaire of ruining Keegan’s chances of assembling a good team by failing to provide him with sufficient transfer funds. In a separate incident, a drunken fan allegedly lunged at Ashley.

Keegan’s predecessor Sam Allardyce spent around £9m on transfers but the only first-teamer Keegan has signed is out-of-contract Lamine Diatta on a free transfer.