By Neil Brock
January 24 2006

Albert Luque makes some revealing statements about his Newcastle career so far, and his hopes and expectations for the rest of the Premiership Season.

There are 16 Premiership matches left for us to play and every single one of them will have to be treated like a cup final by the Newcastle players. The loss to Blackburn was a bad result because those are the type of games that we need to be taking three points from. Nevertheless, I think that we will still be fighting for a place in the UEFA Cup by the end of the season instead of being near the bottom. I believe that for sure.

Our spirit has been low because of the losses, but we have trust in ourselves to turn it around by the end of the season. We have four extremely important months ahead of us and during that time I expect us to have recovered the points we now need.

The manager is under a lot of pressure at the moment and I understand it because this club has spent a lot of money on new signings and the fans expect better results from the team. All I can say is that I am sure the results will come under Mr Souness. Maybe we just need a little bit more time to get used to playing as a team. After all we do have a lot of new players getting used to a new team.

I've had a lot of bad luck with injuries since joining Newcastle but I am ready to give more things to the team now. I can assure everyone that I will give the best I possibly can to help us, and hopefully that will produce results for the manager. I am confident the current situation will change for the better, because we have quality players, and a quality team.

Graeme Souness is a very good coach to work with. I have always had good coaches and he is one of them. I think he understands football, and the mentality of players very well. I really do hope the wins come quickly for us.

This has to be the most injury-jinxed team I have played for in my career. There really is no reason why we have suffered so many injuries though, it's very strange. There is no logical reason other than it just being bad luck. That's why we have to not dwell on it, and move on.

The problems we are having right now will change and almost everybody will be back soon, fully fit and playing at their best level for the final part of the season. I am over my injury worries now. For a time I was concerned, but I feel good now and it's my aim to repay the confidence this club has shown in me by scoring lots of goals and putting in some great performances.

It was a big loss for us to lose Michael Owen because he is a fantastic player. He's proved his class at every place he's been. Michael's very quick and knows how to score goals, so for me I am proud to play alongside him. As a person, he is also a great man. I think he will get fit and play an important role for England at the World Cup along with Beckham and Rooney.

I have to say that playing with Alan Shearer is a great experience for me. When I first arrived I knew what an impressive striker he was, but having now been his team-mate I am even more impressed by his attacking talent and football vision. Off the pitch too, he is a funny guy, although so far I haven't had as many opportunities as I'd have liked to share jokes or funny moments with him.

From my own perspective I am adapting better to life at Newcastle United now. At first it was difficult because I got injured, but I am feeling a lot better now and more comfortable with the rest of the team. I am also getting used to life in this great city. This is a club with a wonderful history with legendary players like Shearer and Owen and I think it will grow and achieve success in the near future.

Ideally I would have like to have played more minutes on the pitch this season but I think that will come.

There were rumours that I was going to join Real Madrid but I have been linked with them ever since I was a player with Real Mallorca. The press has always linked me with Real Madrid.

The fact is that if a club wants you, they will come in and sign you, just as Newcastle did with me. That's why I intend to give 100 per cent to Newcastle over the next few months. I'm fully concentrated on performing well for this club because I desperately want to achieve success at St James' Park.

 
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