saint allan maximin
Allan Saint-Maximin has revealed that the sight of West Ham players celebrating scraping a point at St James’ Park was the ideal reminder that Newcastle United have made serious progress in the last 12 months. Only last season, the Hammers coasted to a 4-2 win on Tyneside but they were punching the air at holding Champions League contenders Newcastle at the final whistle. Saint-Maximin was quick to note the change in West Ham’s approach as they lined up with a back five and tried to restrict the Magpies from the get-go.
Allan Saint-Maximin said: “It’s a big compliment and I see when the game finished they were very happy to draw against us. Before it was never like that. We can see things starting to change but as I say we need every single player now. Even when we had a full team we drew games. We know that it’s going to happen. Look at Arsenal this weekend, they have an incredible team and they lost away to Everton. The Premier League is a very tough league, you can do everything and prepare and be ready but some small details can cost you a game. I think we played well in the first half but when teams are 1-0 down and they have nothing to lose they take risks. Look at the West Ham goal it came from a set-piece. It wasn’t like they scored in open play and that’s why we had a lot of frustration. We don’t concede from set-pieces most of the time and West Ham managed it. It’s difficult to accept but now we need to move forward and try to do everything to win the next game.”
Saint-Maximin was afforded just 30 touches and had only one real chance of note in his 69-minute appearance at St James’. That was his first start since August when he starred against Wolverhampton Wanderers away from home. Looking back on his first Premier League start in months, Saint-Maximin said: “It was very good, the team played very well, we didn’t win the game. But it was important for us to try to do everything to win and I think there was a lot of frustration because we tried everything.
Allan Saint-Maximin added: “It is important to keep our run going because it’s a long time since we lost a game. But for sure we want to win every time we play in front of our fans. It’s not easy now because teams come here to draw. They try to slow down the game and you could see that against Leeds and West Ham. The manager always tries to do everything win. If we can’t win we have to make sure we don’t lose.”
Newcastle were lacking the X-factor in the middle of the pitch without suspended star Bruno Guimaraes and they will need to step up against AFC Bournemouth and Liverpool without him and find answers before his return in the Carabao Cup final.
Allan Saint-Maximin added: “For sure he is a big player for us and we miss him. I hope he will be back soon but we know we have two more games without him. We know though even when he has been here there were a couple of games when we’ve drawn. So we need to work on that to make things easier when Bruno can’t play. West Ham is the type of game we need to be winning as we know those two points are very important by the end of the season. We know it’s going to be like this, we are going to be playing against teams we play a back five and sit back. They will slow it down and try to do everything they can not to lose. It’s something we should understand because a couple of years ago we played like that. Now we have some big players and have to find a way to win.”
