Sky Sports claim NUFC star is “very unlikely” to play at West Ham this weekend

Fabian Schar is confident we are better placed to beat the drop this season compared to the previous campaign – but Sky Sports’ Keith Downie claims he’s “very unlikely” to be fit in time to face West Ham this weekend.

Thankfully, Downie claims he’s ‘upbeat’ about the severity of his knee injury, suggests he won’t be missing for long, however it’s a blow to hear he’s highly unlikely to feature this weekend.

The Swiss international, who was ruled out against Wolves on Sunday with a knee injury, believes that improvements can be made and feels that the Toon have enough quality to ensure survival.

Here is what the 28-year-old had to say speaking to Sky Sports News:

“It’s been a mixed start to the season but we’ve had a difficult start against five of the big sides in the first 10 games,”

“We know how difficult the league is and that we have to score more goals. “But we will improve. We know how good we can be and all we can do is look forward day by day.

“I’m positive in the quality and belief in the team, we perhaps have more quality than last year.”

There is some truth is Schar’s words, as this time last season Newcastle had failed to record a single win in all competitions.

Perspective has to be taken into consideration, however, as Newcastle were led by a Champions League winning manager in Rafa Benitez, and had a core group of Premier League proven players in attack with Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez having the ability to stick the ball in the net when needed.

Newcastle have looked short up front so far this season, with record signing Joelinton not being able to buy a goal at the moment – not that he’s been given nearly enough support.

Schar came to the defence of his new team-mates, stating that more than just goals should be considered when judging the Toon’s new talisman.

“You have to look at how we play and what our strikers and forwards do in terms of defensive work “

“Many people don’t see that or forget that they are hard-working guys who do everything for the team to defend and it’s difficult to do the same attacking.”

I have defended Joelinton in a similar way to how Fabian has here, as it is clear to see that most strikers would struggle to score in the 5-4-1 system currently in use by Steve Bruce.

Offensively, Newcastle aren’t getting the most out of their attacking players as we prefer to set up in a way that stifles the opposition.

The goals need to come soon – from anywhere – otherwise, Newcastle are going to find themselves in real trouble come the end of the season.

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