Eddie Howe in buoyant mood – This was massive

Eddie Howe reflecting on a massive night, a game where Newcastle United looked set up to fail in many people’s eyes.

The NUFC Head Coach in such a difficult spot, so many players unavailable and so many massive tough games in rapid succession.

Eddie Howe feeling the right way to go was he had to absolutely use his squad to the very limit, making eight changes and starting with many players who had played few, if any, minutes this season. Indeed, players that many Newcastle fans expected to not feature at all this season.

Fair to say that if you had asked neutrals to pick eleven from the two starting line-ups, the vast majority would have been wearing red shirts.

However, I think this ended up a match that very much said everything about Eddie Howe and Newcastle United, the story of what is happening at St James’ Park under this manager. Maybe as well, this game also said everything about Erik ten Hag and exactly where Man U are now at.

The Newcastle United players looking like every single player was well drilled and absolutely knew their jobs AND were willing to run until they dropped for their manager. For Man U and ten Hag, the exact opposite.

Still a difficult position for Eddie Howe with so many players missing, however, he can now move on to tackle the likes of Arsenal and Dortmund, with this massive shot in the arm to help send NUFC full of confidence and belief that teamwork and desire can take you an awful long way.

Seven wins and only one defeat in these last eleven games in a very tough schedule, this has been outstanding from Eddie Howe and his squad.

Eddie Howe reflecting on Manchester United 0 Newcastle United 3:

“A massive performance from the players.

“I can’t credit them enough.

“There were some great stories to come out of the game.

“Matt Targett is the only negative, a huge [injury] blow for us. I have no idea why or how it happened. It is bizarre. Early in the game and he’s not fatigued in that moment. He stretched his leg up to tackle and instantly the minute he hit the ground, he was waving to us, knew he was in trouble. It looks like a hamstring which would be a huge blow. The only hope for me is he wasn’t really running at the time. Sometimes the worst ones are when you are in an explosive action but he was in pain and he’s struggling to walk, so it doesn’t look good.

“But even more credit to the team for their performance after that moment and some giant performances from the players.

“What a story for both central defenders, Emil Krafth 14 months out and playing in a position he hasn’t played in a lot.I thought he was superb, used the ball really well, his athleticism was key. “Together with Paul Dummett. I thought they defended really well against top quality players. It certainly wasn’t an easy game for us.

“Joe Willock was outstanding, a goalscoring midfielder with those athletic qualities we need. You could see how many times he ran forward, a real threat and he took his goal brilliantly, which was a big moment in the game. We needed that third goal.

“It means everything to us and hopefully to the fans, you could see their reaction at the end. They knew we were in a tough moment, making changes, but that can sometimes elevate our unity.

“Players like Matt Ritchie elevate that and his performance was of the highest level.

“The message at half-time was to be positive and brave, continue to do the things that brought us success.

“I have seen many games here where the crowd win them the game.

“It was a very good performance from us. The mentality was brilliant.

“Without the players committing to what we want, we’ve got no chance.

“This is a really tough place to come to score the goals we did at the time we did.

“We return to the Premier League with Arsenal, I know we have a tough schedule ahead and we look forward to it.”

Stats via BBC Sport:

Manchester United 0 Newcastle United 3 – Wednesday 1 November 8.15pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Almiron 28, Hall 36, Willock 60

 Man U:

Possession was Man U 62%  Newcastle 38%

Total shots were Man U 13 Newcastle 10

Shots on target were Man U 2 Newcastle 5

Corners Man U 5 Newcastle 2

Referee: Robert Jones

Attendance: 72,484 (NUFC 7,300)

Newcastle team v Wolves:

Dubravka, Livramento, Krafth, Dummett, Targett (Almiron 5), Hall (Burn 74), Longstaff, Willock (Bruno 64), Ritchie (Trippier 75), Joelinton, Gordon (Wilson 64)

SUBS:

Karius, Lascelles, Diallo, Parkinson

(Manchester United 0 Newcastle United 3 – Instant NUFC fan / writer reaction – Read HERE)

(Manchester United humiliated! Newcastle United brilliant! There’s only one United… Read HERE)

(Newcastle United get Chelsea – Carabao Cup quarter-final draw – Read HERE)

Newcastle United upcoming matches:

Saturday 4 November 2023 – Newcastle v Arsenal (5.30pm) Sky Sports

Tuesday 7 November 2023 – Borussia Dortmund v Newcastle (5.45pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 11 November 2023 – Bournemouth v Newcastle (5.30pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 25 November 2023 – Newcastle v Chelsea (3pm)

Tuesday 28 November 2023 – PSG v Newcastle (8pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 2 December 2023 – Newcastle United v Man U (8pm) TNT Sports

Thursday 7 December 2023 – Everton v Newcastle (7.30pm) Amazon

Sunday 10 December 2023 – Tottenham v Newcastle (4.30pm) Sky Sports

Wednesday 13 December 2023 – Newcastle v AC Milan (8pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 16 December 2023 – Newcastle v Fulham (3pm)

Tuesday 19 December 2023 – Chelsea v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 23 December 2023 – Luton v Newcastle (3pm)

Tuesday 26 December 2023 – Newcastle v Forest (12.30pm) Amazon

Monday 1 January 2024 – Liverpool v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

(Weekend of Saturday 6 January 2024 – FA Cup third round matches)

Saturday 13 January 2024 – Newcastle v Man City (5.30pm) TNT Sports