The Magpies have lost their last three Premier League fixtures at St. James' Park and face a Man United side who are unbeaten since Michael Carrick's appointment as caretaker head coach.

The United head coach revealed Woltemade "has gone down ill" but is hopeful the Germany international will be available to face the Red Devils on Wednesday evening.

He also provided an update on Jacob Ramsey's health after the central midfielder, who scored his first goal on home soil in Saturday's 3-2 defeat against Everton, was substituted at half-time due to sickness.

Here are some of the boss' main talking points from Tuesday's pre-match media briefing at the Newcastle United Media Centre:

On team-news...

"Jacob Ramsey was in yesterday, trained fine so a quick recovery from him. There's an illness, potentially, in the squad because Nick Woltemade has gone down ill and we haven't seen him for a couple of days but we will give him every chance for tomorrow.

"Tino Livramento is getting closer and closer. This game possibly comes too soon for him, we are desperate for him to become available."

On Ramsey, who has three goal involvements in his last three Premier League outings...

"He's getting better and better. When we first signed him, it was clear from the training we were doing how good, technically, he is.

"He very rarely wastes the ball, is really good in tight areas and he has good athleticism to add to the other side so I think he has a little bit of everything.

"It's been great to see him score a couple of really important goals for us. Naturally, playing in midfield, I think you need to contribute in that area as well. That will do his confidence levels, those two goals, the world of good.

"I think he now feels fully at home and comfortable what he's been asked to do so really positive signs for him."

On finding consistency...

"We want to be consistent. We want to be our best in every game so it's a frustration for all of us. We are trying to find solutions to every problem we have."

On the next run of fixtures, playing in three different competitions in the upcoming three matches...

"We have to get the focus in the right areas. The focus has to be on what we can do better and we try to bring it back to what can help the players and our next performance.

"The players and my staff did a really good job of trying to bring it back to that. We did some good work on the training pitch, one of the rare opportunities we've had to do that, and today will be the same.

"It's highlighting themes and mentality to our performance that will help us in our next run of games. They are all pivotal games. The games we have, we have to try and be positive and relish those games.

"We can’t play with any fear, need to go and attack the games and be as positive as we can be."

On Man United, who claimed a 1-0 win against Newcastle in the reverse league fixture on Boxing Day...

"Our intention in every game is to get into them, be a proactive team rather than a reactive team. Attack them. They have tweaked things tactically; they have a really good atmosphere there.

"You can see an upturn in their general performance; they have some really good players. It is a chance for us to rediscover our best form at home."

On the demands of the current schedule...

"The team we have is a very good team, but we need to defend better collectively, and that is on us as a whole team. We have been slightly unlucky with injuries, that is tough for any team to absorb, especially when you are playing every three days.

|We have been put in a position where we haven’t had the luxury to rotate which has impacted our performances.”