Schär salutes Fab-ulous team effort

A fifth goal of the campaign from Salomón Rondón proved decisive, with the Venezuelan applying the finishing touch to Javier Manquillo’s cross following a sweeping counter-attacking move.

Before and after Rondón’s goal, David Wagner’s Huddersfield enjoyed far more of the ball at the John Smith’s Stadium, but rarely did they look like turning an ample amount of possession into anything more meaningful.

That – Schär believed – owed as much to United’s expertise in defending from the front as it did to their concentration over the course of the 90 minutes.

“All 11 players will defend and that’s the reason why it’s so difficult to play against us and score against us, and that’s one thing we showed today,” the Swiss defender told nufc.co.uk. “We all knew how important the game was, for both teams. It’s a very important win for us, it’s three points – three massive points – and now we can be pretty happy after the game.

“We knew before the game how difficult it would be – they have a lot of big players, they put in a lot of crosses and long balls but I think we defended pretty good over the 90 minutes. They didn’t have many opportunities and after it went to 1-0 I can’t remember one big chance they had. The feeling during the game was good, but you never know what can happen – anything can happen from a corner, free kick or something – so you have to be focussed for every minute. That’s what we did and that’s the reason we won today.”

Away from home, Newcastle have lost just twice in the Premier League this term, and they are unbeaten on the road since an agonising late defeat to Manchester United at the beginning of the October.

Now, with a game against basement side Fulham coming up at St. James’ Park, Schär acknowledged that the time has come for the Magpies to re-assert themselves on their own turf.

“At the moment, we have quite good results away. We have another important week in front of us with a game at home, and it’s another big chance for us,” he said. “We are not comfortable with the results at St. James’ Park – we always want to get points there, so we have to try and show the fans what we’ve got and (how) we can play. We can improve a lot of things. At the same time, we always have to be focussed and play with our heart. Even if it is a home game, we have to be able to defend like we do away.”