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Fernández calls for focus ahead of Palace trip
Written by Tom Easterby
Federico Fernández admits Newcastle United need to pick up some points “as soon as possible” as preparations begin for Saturday’s game at Crystal Palace.
United are yet to win a Premier League game this season, with Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Arsenal leaving the Magpies with just a point from their opening five fixtures.
They looked bright in the first half against the Gunners at St. James’ Park, but couldn’t find a way through before Grant Xhaka and Mesut Ozil struck after the break.
Ciaran Clark nodded in a late consolation, but attentions now turn to the trip to Selhurst Park this weekend – and defender Fernández knows it’s crucial United begin to record some positive results sooner rather than later.
“We know it’s very important,” the 29-year-old told nufc.co.uk. “We have a couple of games against teams who are maybe middle of the table now. It’s no excuse, but in these five games we knew it would be very difficult, against top teams.
“But we’ve approached them well, we’ve played like a team, but we didn’t take anything. Now we need to start taking points, because that’s what we need.
“We need to analyse the good things and prepare for Crystal Palace away. We can go there and win the game, so we need to be ready, be focussed and positive.”
Much has been made of the tough run of early fixtures Rafa Benítez’s side have had at the start of this term.
But Newcastle have shown signs that that elusive victory may not be too far away, and former Napoli man Fernández knows there is still a lot of room for improvement.
“I think we played very well in the first half, and we deserved more from the first half,” he said of the clash with Unai Emery’s men. “We pushed high, we tried to press and we had our chances. When you don’t score it’s difficult. We started the second half a little bit deep and after the really good free kick, they started to feel more comfortable with the ball.
“We were disappointed because we approached the game very well, against a really good team. They scored the second goal, and after that it was very difficult to come back into the game, even though we scored once later on.
“I think we did everything in that first half to score a goal, but we didn’t, and that’s maybe the difference. We need to keep working, defensively especially, and to create chances, score goals and win games now. Overall, the commitment and the effort from everyone has been really good, but we need to keep going.”