Taylor’s video nasty works wonders on Toon

PREMIER LEAGUE: Newcastle v Sunderland

Steven Taylor, however, didn’t need any reminding.

It was the aftermath of the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa from May 2009, which saw the club relegated and gave the centre-half one of the worst moments of his career — as was very visible on-screen.

“I never want that feeling again,” Taylor says now. “When they’ve looked back at the clips that the manager put on, that drilled it into lads’ heads.

“I remember when we got relegated, everybody kept saying we can’t go down, don’t worry and there was no panic. But I think things weren’t registering in players’ heads how critical it is to just get results.”

Ahead of a particularly taut Tyne-Wear derby because of both Paolo Di Canio’s appointment at Sunderland and the positions of the two sides, Taylor feels his team now has that necessary urgency. In fact, you could see it in Newcastle’s last league game against Fulham, when Papiss Cisse scored a stoppage-time winner to take so much pressure off. That conviction, however, isn’t the only reason things have clicked for the club.

Indeed, it was Villa Park that provided another pivotal moment for Newcastle, but one that was much more positive. Initially, however, Taylor admits to a few doubts.

It was January 29 and Newcastle had just brought in five new French-based players.

“Sometimes it can take a foreign player maybe a year to adjust,” Taylor says. “No-one knew how it was going to be. Obviously they couldn’t speak much English, they were translating what the manager’s saying in the dressing room and, as players, you’re thinking ‘is this going to work? We need to start kicking on in the season’.”

Any doubt, however, very soon dissipated as Newcastle beat Villa 2-1.

“It was the first 20 minutes, a very fast start. The French lads got on the ball and you could see straight away they meant business. We’ve got pace, power, an outlet in the game now.

“It was brilliant, just what we needed. It just gives you that bit more confidence as well.”

For Taylor, it also brought an element of Only Fools and Horses to his vocabulary. The centre-half has been paired with Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, who is still learning English.

“To start with, I remember trying to get some French words but you don’t want Derek Trotter saying some words on the pitch which ain’t right. It could cost us a goal! So I thought ‘you just learn a bit of English mate because my French isn’t the best’.”

Tomorrow, of course, Newcastle will hope to come out on top against their neighbours. Other than the derby, though, Taylor isn’t too concerned at how Sunderland are doing. That, after all, has been an issue in the past.

“The main thing is not to focus on any other side apart from ourselves. In the past, especially in the season we went down, we were too worried about what was going on around us. After the Fulham game, it was great. It’s all about us and how we do as a team.”