Steve McClaren: 'If we keep playing like that, we'll have no problems avoiding relegation'

The Magpies suffered their fourth successive away defeat in all competitions as second-half goals from Odion Ighalo and Craig Cathcart enabled Watford to claim a 2-1 victory at Vicarage Road.

Newcastle have won just one of their last eight matches, yet McClaren continues to insist that his side are performing impressively, and maintains they will avoid the drop if they reproduce their current standards over the matches that remain.

Having described his side’s performance as “tremendous” in his television interviews, the Magpies head coach was equally ebullient in his subsequent conversations despite his side remaining rooted in the bottom three.

McClaren said: “We won’t have a problem if we keep doing that week in, week out.

“We’ve been doing what we need to - we just need to be more clinical and better in both boxes. But I can’t fault the players.

“Many people questioned early-season these players’ attitudes and do they care. Of course they do. You saw that today, you’ve seen that in recent weeks.

“It’s disappointing and frustrating for everybody because we’re not getting the results the performances deserve.”

Having signed Jonjo Shelvey and Henri Saivet during this month’s transfer window, Newcastle’s midfield reinforcement is complete.

Shelvey was nowhere near as influential yesterday as he had been on his debut against West Ham, but McClaren remains confident he is the right man to build the Magpies’ midfield around.

He said: “We wanted shall we say a 'midfield general', and we certainly got one in Jonjo. We want to build that midfield around him and give him a lot of responsibility.

“We’re giving him a lot of responsibility to make us play, and he’s doing that. We controlled the game and I think other players are responding (to him).

“I thought (Moussa) Sissoko was excellent, (Georginio) Wijnaldum too. I thought we did everything today but win the game.”