Source: Northern_Echo
Nolan's realistic outlook
KEVIN Nolan admits Monday's 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford provided a brutal introduction to life in the Premier League, but the Newcastle skipper insists his side will not be too down-heartened by their first league loss since early February. After sweeping all before them in the second half of last season, the Magpies were reminded of the gulf between England's top two divisions as they slipped to a comprehensive three-goal reverse at the hands of Manchester United. In the immediate aftermath of the game, Chris Hughton was quick to claim the defeat would not damage the spirit and unity that helped carry Newcastle to the Championship title. And with Sunday's opening home game with Aston Villa already looming large, Nolan is equally confident his teammates have the strength of character required to quickly put Monday's reverse to the back of their minds. We can't get too carried away with what happened last year, said the Magpies midfielder. We have to realise this is a whole new challenge. It is okay when you are winning every week as everything is hunky dory. All the players walk into work with a smile on their faces, but now comes the time when we have to fight. We will get a few tonkings in this league because everyone does, even the best teams have their off days, but it is how you bounce back that counts. The fans will stick with us, and together as a united Newcastle, we will achieve what we need to achieve this season. Last season's setbacks were relatively few and far between, but it would be wrong to assume that Newcastle suffered a trouble-free passage to the Championship title. Early-season defeats to Blackpool, Nottingham Forest and Scunthorpe raised eyebrows, but the Magpies made a habit of responding to a poor performance with a string of much-improved displays. The challenge is to reproduce that resilience in the Premier League, and while it is far too early to talk of crucial matches, Sunday's opening home game has clearly assumed added importance as a result of Monday's reverse. We always bounced back last year, said Nolan. You are talking about a different league, but the strength of the team was we always bounced back and always looked forward. We never dwelled on a bad result and we are not going to start doing that now. You cannot do that in this league. We have to take all the positives out of our performance (at Old Trafford) and make sure it clicks at the weekend. In particular, Newcastle also have to cut out that errors that contributed to Manchester United's opening two goals on Monday night. Jonas Gutierrez conceded possession in the build-up to Dimitar Berbatov's opener, while Darren Fletcher was afforded far too much room in the six-yard box as he prodded home his side's second. There were mistakes, conceded Nolan. We gave the ball away on the edge of our box for their first goal and you cannot do that against world-class players. The second goal was iffy too. We were disappointed to lose 3-0 as we went in with a game plan and it didn't work. But if (Andy) Carroll's header (in the 11th minute) had gone in, which it would do nine times out of ten, it could have been a different game. Meanwhile, AC Milan have emerged as possible competitors in the race to sign Hatem Ben Arfa from Marseille. Marseille officials have inquired about the availability of Milan striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and sources in France claim Ben Arfa has been mentioned as a possible make-weight in the deal. Marseille cannot afford Milan's £10m asking price for Huntelaar, but including Ben Arfa in the deal could halve that fee to a much more affordable level.