Laudrup On Best Away Performance Of Season

Michael Laudrup hailed his sides win at Newcastle as their best performance of the season

“I thought it was the best away performance of the season, even better than QPR on the opening day and Liverpool in the cup,” said Laudrup.

“To come to a place like Newcastle when they really needed to get a win after losing last weekend and play like that was excellent.

“We kept possession well and some of our counter-attacking was fantastic.

“We scored two, but I can say that we created eight or nine great chances to score.

“The only disappointment was that we conceded right at the end and had to suffer until the final seconds, but I can live with that.

“In lots of our games we have five or six new players and normally it takes a little time for players to get to know each other and settle in.

“But that is why I believe we will get better in the second half of the season when the players have had more chance to get used to playing with each other.

“When we play that well it is not possible to pick out one or two players because the whole team was outstanding.

“With the way we play we cannot afford to have two or three players who are not on their game, but I thought the level of our performance as a team was great.

“Itay has come on in the last couple of games and done very well and I wanted someone who could make those runs in behind and cause problems.

“I wanted to drop Michu back into midfield and I thought Itay did very well.

“That’s what Michu does so well,” said Laudrup.

“When he is in midfield he can play our possession game and when we go forward he arrives late in the box from the second line.

“He is very difficult to mark when he plays that way and it is where a lot of his goals come from.

“It’s not an easy position to play but he does it very well.”