Newcastle goalkeeper Rob Elliot has hit back at pundits who’ve branded our squad as ‘Championship standard’, stating we’ve proven ‘time and time again’ that we are are good enough to compete in the Premier League.
This tag has stuck with us for the majority of the season, with BT Sports pundit Steven Gerrard saying just a few weeks ago that we are a Championship squad with a Premier League manager.
Rob Elliot clearly disagrees, explaining here why the squad always felt good enough to stay up, slamming claims that we are not up to Championship standard:
“We always believed we were good enough to stay up and we still do. Obviously when you start getting the results and start seeing yourself higher up the table it really helps. Hopefully we can keep pushing from there.
“There’s been a lot made about this squad not being a Premier League squad but I completely disagree. I believe there’s a strong depth in the squad and we’ve proven time and time again that we’re good enough.
“Not forgetting this is our first season back in the Premier League as well. I think the players have got a lot to prove, it’s a very young squad, but a very good and hungry one too.”
In fairness, I’ve never quite bought this claim that we’d be rock bottom of the league without Benitez. This suggests that we’ve got by far the worst squad in the Premier League.
I look at Burnley in 7th and am honestly not sure if their squad is much better than ours?
There’s a clear lack of quality up front and had been issues out wide and in goal prior to the January signings of Kenedy and Dubravka, but there’s plenty players in this group good enough to play in the top flight.
One minute we were a Premier League squad in the Championship, yet now we’re described as a Championship squad in the Premier League.
Let us know your thoughts – do you agree with Rob Elliot’s defence of NUFC?
