Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

News

Eddie Howe is class here – Schooling hysterical fans

1 year ago
Share

Listening to Eddie Howe, always reminds me as to how lucky we are to have him.

Does he always get everything right? Obviously not, no football manager does.

Does he usually get most things right? Watching Newcastle United these last 15 or 16 months, I would say this has been the case for sure.

It doesn’t then follow that you necessarily win any particular game(s).

However, on an overwhelming number of occasions in his Newcastle United matches so far, Eddie Howe has produced a team and tactics that puts the side in the best possible position to get a positive result.

Once players cross the white line of course, you are then exposed to individual and team moments that the Head Coach has absolutely no control of.

Any Newcastle United fan who thinks Saturday was some kind of below par performance…

Never mind those hysterical NUFC supporters seeing it as some kind of shocker (I just give up!).

Any rational Newcastle United fan just needs to read what Eddie Howe has had to say about Saturday and you will feel in a much better place.

Yes, nobody is happy when their team loses and yes players are continuing to miss chances, but Eddie Howe tells it as it is.

Eddie Howe giving his take on Saturday’s events, reflecting on Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 0:

“I thought that it was a very good performance from us in many respects.

“I thought that we pressed really well and were brave.

“I thought that the players were committed to that and I thought we unsettled them [Man City].

“However, they have a habit of scoring with minimal chances, which is what they did today.

“We had chances but weren’t as clinical as them.

“It is just one of those things, I think we are going through a phase where that is happening to us.

“I think we have to be very positive with our general performance.

“We have to acknowledge that there are improvements to make, but that compared to last year, we are getting closer.

“We have to be positive about that.

“We are trying to be the team.

“We want to be in every game.

“I thought we were well in the game today.

“It was a similar performance to last week where we were good in the game, very dynamic in our play, aggressive, good with the ball, hurt them at times, but couldn’t put that final piece together.

“Our overall performance in all three games [Liverpool, Man U, Man City] has been very good.

“High level games, we have gone toe-to-toe in all these matches.

“We have been beaten in all three but that is probably harsh.

“We were competitive today, we had our chances and we didn’t take them, [Man] City did.

“If you are still creating chances, I will back the players over the long-term and we will start scoring again.

“We need to, as the confidence of the team is dependent on it.

“When you lose such a huge game as the Carabao Cup final, naturally there is a disappointment in the group.

“However, I don’t think you saw a team that was wallowing in self-pity.

“You saw a team very brave, very aggressive and very much in that game.

“Our plan was to come here and attack and to try and give our all physically, then give an opportunity to new players coming onto the pitch [from the bench] to do the same.

“Keeping that high energy up for 90 minutes is difficult, so we wanted to break that up with the substitutions.

“I was pleased with the impact but then the second goal comes at a bad time for us.

It could have been different, there were moments for us today.

“Probably the one that sticks in my head is Joelinton’s chance at one nil.

“They are big moments and when you play games like this, you have to be clinical because you’re not going to get many chances.

“Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

Stats from BBC Sport:

Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 0 – Saturday 4 March 12.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Man City:

Foden 15, Bernardo Silva 67

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Man City 57% (56%) Newcastle 43% (44%)

Total shots were Man City 11 (6) Newcastle 5 (2)

Shots on target were Man City 3 (1) Newcastle 2 (0)

Corners were Man City 8 (2) Newcastle 4 (1)

Referee: Simon Hooper

Newcastle United:

Pope, Trippier, Lascelles, Botman, Burn (Targett 87), Longstaff (Willock 63), Bruno, Joelinton, Almiron (Murphy 77), Gordon (ASM 62), Wilson (Isak 63)

Unused Subs:

Dubravka, Ritchie, Manquillo, Anderson

(BBC Sport comments from ‘neutrals’ – Interesting on Newcastle United after Manchester City defeat – Read HERE)

(Alan Shearer perfectly gets Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 0 – On the money – Read HERE)

(Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 0 – Match ratings and comments on all the NUFC players – Read HERE)

(Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 0 – The instant NUFC fan / writer reaction – Read HERE)

(If anybody is having problems loading the comments section on their device. This is probably due to an issue with cookies / cache, Disqus have reported that since their last software update some users are having issues. Below is a link to Disqus help which explains what you need to do to resolve the issue.

https://help.disqus.com/en/articles/1717062-why-isn-t-the-comment-box-loading)

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks