It's good to be back

By Matthew Jones
July 26 2005

After sitting out Newcastle United's first leg tie versus Dubnica in the Intertoto Cup having been away on International duty at the end of the season with the Republic of Ireland, defender Stephen Carr played the full 90 minutes in the second leg and said "it's good to be back".

Speaking to the clubs official website, Carr said:

"It's good to be back.

"I was ready to come back to be honest, it was a decent break but if you get too much time off then it takes longer to get back into the swing of things.

"It takes a few games to get your fitness levels up, and in the early games you tend to work on the sharpness and the positioning and all that sort of stuff.

"But it's good to be playing in the Intertoto Cup, because we have to take the games seriously and they have that little bit more of an edge than a usual pre-season game as there is a lot at stake.

"Playing competitive games so early is better for us than playing some meaningless friendlies.

"In a normal pre-season we'd be totally focused on the first game at Arsenal, but the situation we are in now means we have to focus on getting into Europe.

"When you look at Deportivo la Coruna in the next round, and then after that it could be Lazio or Marseille if we get through, then it shows just how desperate people are to get into the UEFA Cup.

"When you look at some of the big clubs in the Intertoto, you could say it is stronger than the first few rounds of the UEFA Cup.

"I'm enjoying it here, I'm comfortable at the club and I've settled up here without any bother.

"I've been here a year now, but it feels like longer than that to be honest.

"It's a great club, and you saw by the crowd on Saturday just what the club means to the supporters.

"We have a burning ambition to do well for those fans, because they deserve a trophy.

"During the summer I often thought back to last season when we were so close to winning something, and it gutted me the way things worked out if I'm honest.

"But we have to look forward, and hopefully in the new season we can improve on our league position and maybe get some silverware."