Defender eager to bounce back from successive defeats
JONAS Olsson is hoping to extend Newcastle’s Europa League hangover when they visit The Hawthorns on Saturday (ko 3pm).The Geordies followed up their quarter-final exit at the hands of Benfica last week with a 3-0 home derby defeat by Sunderland on Sunday.
And, while he admits the Magpies’ European adventure may have caught up with them, he insists it is something the Baggies have aspirations of.
“This season Newcastle have been struggling in the league a little bit but when they come through it they will develop a lot,” said Olsson.
“You want to qualify for Europe, you want to finish as high as possible and you have to find a way to manage that when you’re hopefully there.
“For me all teams want to play in Europe; I want to play in Europe.
“I don’t know how many games they’ve played, or how many journey’s they’ve had...
“For me I think it helps to develop younger players and it gives the players that are not playing as often a chance to show what they are made of.
“Usually they can only play in the FA Cup or League Cup but that competition gives them a chance also.”
Thoughts of revenge for October’s last-gasp defeat at St James’ Park are not at the forefront of the Sweden international’s mind.
He is more intent on responding positively to back-to-back defeats by West Ham and Arsenal.
“We were unlucky up there last time,” added Olsson.
“It’s a tough place to go and we played well up there. They got a lucky goal in the end.
“It seems like a long time ago.
“That was one of those where it felt like we didn’t deserve it.
“I’m not really out for revenge.
“It’s more that we have lost two on the bounce now and we want to get away from that.
“In these last games we cannot let the season slip away.
“We’ve been having a good season so we are not going to ruin that by throwing it away in the last month.
“We showed against Arsenal that we have a lot of fight left and that we want to keep going.
“The head coach is pushing us as hard as ever.
“Neither he or the players have been approaching these games differently than at the start of the season.
“We are approaching them in the same way as we have been doing all season.”