News. White wanting win against Stoke

joe-white-u23-v-stoke
Published
19 Sep 21

Teenage midfielder Joe White is hopeful Newcastle United Under-23s can return to winning ways ahead of Monday's Premier League 2 visit of Stoke City (kick-off 7pm BST).

The young Magpies host their Potters counterparts at Whitley Park, aiming to maintain their place in the play-off positions with a victory.

United's second-string were unable to return to the summit of Division Two, following a 2-0 away defeat against West Bromwich Albion, but White - who made his first-team debut for Steve Bruce's side during a pre-season friendly draw at Rotherham United - is determined to bounce back in positive fashion.

"We made a good start to the season before going into the game at West Brom," the 18-year-old central midfielder told nufc.co.uk. "We had been top of the league so we can't let one game affect us. We have to put in a good performance and hopefully that will lead to getting a good result on Monday night.

"It was frustrating. We had a lot of possession and enough chances to score but we were punished by conceding two sloppy goals. We need to cut them out and I think we have enough going forward to score more goals and take those chances we created in the last game.

"We go into every game thinking we need three points. We want to win every match, especially where we're at currently. It's early days but that's where we want to finish at the end of the season.

"Stoke have always been a physical team, playing with two strikers, but if we match them in terms of that, winning the battles early on then I think the ability we have in the squad should be too good for them."

For the first time in a senior competitive fixture, the Carlisle-born youngster - who joined United's Academy at the age of 13 - was named on the bench for Newcastle's Premier League trip to Manchester United last weekend.

Although the Cumbrian teenager remained an unused substitute during the 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford, White admitted the experience was a one he will never forget.

He added: "It was surreal, especially walking out just before the game started and in front of 75,000 supporters.

"You also had Cristiano Ronaldo returning to Manchester United for his first game back. I was around five or six years old when I watched him first playing for the club.

"I trained with the first-team that week but I wasn't expecting to be on the bench. On Friday morning, I got a call saying I'd be in for training and told to bring my stuff to travel.

"Even then, I thought it's incase someone gets injured but I realised there was 19 players and then Ben (Dawson) told me I was on the bench and that's when the excitement started to kick in.

"My family were all in the away end as well and they were there when I was warming up on the pitch.

"I was trying to focus on the warm-up but to see the players coming out of the tunnel such as Ronaldo and Paul Pogba was crazy. Pogba is one of the players I model myself off in terms of physicality and how he plays in a similar position to me.

"It was unbelievable and, hopefully, the first of many experiences. It's a proud moment for me and my family but, ultimately, my goal is to get into the first-team, the starting eleven, whether that's short or long term."

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