Source: Northern_Echo
Enrique seeking instant return
WHEN Jose Enrique joined Newcastle United for £6.5m, the last thing he envisaged was that two years later he would be playing in the Championship, a division he had not even heard of.[LNB] Now, having survived the summer cull at St James Park, when many of his teammates departed, the Spaniard knows all about English footballs second tier and he wants to make sure the experience ends at the earliest opportunity.[LNB] It is not that Enrique wants to leave, it is just that he has seen enough of the standard of football in the Championship and he is eager to return to the Premier League.[LNB] Eight matches into the season and the 23-year-old has been spurred on to help Newcastle clinch promotion this season. He knows, however, that will not be as straight-forward as it seems to a player used to rubbing shoulders with the top-flights millionaires.[LNB] Its definitely a worse league than the Premier League, its just long ball all of the time for big strikers, said Enrique, who started off in the lower leagues in Spain with Levante, before moving on to Villarreal.[LNB] There are more quality players in the Premier League and it is easier to play in the Championship because the standard is worse. Sometimes in the Premier League you lose 1-0 and your opponents have had one chance. Its so difficult. In the Championship that does not happen.[LNB] That does not mean that getting promotion will be easy. We have many more games and there are five, six or seven teams who have very good squads and will be challenging with us.[LNB] Newcastle are a big team in there, one of the best. But in this division any team can beat any team. We thought we would win at Blackpool before the game but we didnt.[LNB] Given the small size of the Newcastle squad, despite the arrivals of Marlon Harewood and Zurab Khizanishvili, the midweek defeat to Peterborough in the Carling Cup could prove a bonus to the Magpies.[LNB] The fixture allowed caretaker manager Chris Hughton to rest his first-team players, including Enrique, meaning the Newcastle players are refreshed ahead of this evenings trip to Ipswich.[LNB] Enrique, however, has other concerns. While relieved to be out of the Carling Cup, he is hopeful Hughton will soon have more new faces to call upon in his squad to boost the push for promotion.[LNB] Its better for the players to be out of the cup, he said.[LNB] We have too many games this year, we think the most important thing is for the team to get back in the Premier League. Its better that we play less games.[LNB] We definitely need some players. We are without Shola Ameobi until December, we need more attackers. He is an important player.[LNB] We only have one available striker, so we need one striker definitely and we need one winger, one midfielder and one defender. We need some players, but I said that two months ago as well because too many players have left.[LNB] Newcastle could still be top of the Championship tonight if they win at Portman Road and West Brom fail to beat Crystal Palace.[LNB] Such a position after nine matches would be hugely satisfying for Hughton and his players after a difficult summer in which the club has been up for sale.[LNB] But having witnessed the supporters stand by the team, Enrique is eager to pay them back. It has been difficult to accept that Im a Championship player but we are there for a reason, said the leftback.[LNB] Its our fault, not the clubs or the fans. We are to blame.[LNB] Last year was not good enough. I made mistakes, everyone did. We need to get back to the Premier League and that is up to us.[LNB] The fans have stayed with us, thats unbelievable. We had so many problems at this club in the summer that we were worried whether the supporters would be with us, but they were.[LNB] When we got to the first home game and got 45,000 at St James that was unbelievable.[LNB] All of the players know this is incredible. We want to do it for them to get back into the Premier League. That is where this club belongs.[LNB]
