After watching the five minute video Newcastle United released from Eddie Howe’s first training session on Tuesday, I made a note of some of the key comments he made to the players.
Here’s a few that stood out:
- “We want to create space. A lot of people are just stood still. Stood still is no good. You’ve got to create the space.“
- “Let’s go! Push each other!”
- “It’s not a criticism, just a different type of training.”
- “Mind. Calm. Just relax…and enjoy the ball.”
- “Recovery runs. A massive thing. Does everyone understand?”
- “My advice is to get your pass in as early as you can.”
Some of these are simple demands, yet they point towards a few areas of improvement our new manager is already focusing on – and may just expose elements of our game that were below what you’d come to expect from a Premier League team
As you can see in the video clip below, Howe repeatedly asked his players to “create space”, and at one stage warns the group that too many of them are “stood still” – insisting this is “no good.”
Interesting that he also asks them to “push each other” – demanding that standards are kept high – along with promoting the idea of us “enjoying the ball”, making more recovery runs and releasing the ball sooner.
Watch the clips below:
“We want to create space. A lot of people are just stood still. Stood still is no good. You’ve got to create the space.”
This isn’t rocket science, however it’s good to see Howe is immediately working on an area of our game that requires real work if we’re to play fast, free-flowing football that focuses on keeping the ball and penetrating opposition defences.
The plea for players to “push each other” is also an encouraging line, highlighting how he wants standards, energy levels and all-round motivation to be kept high during sessions.
Let’s hope the players can take it all in over the next 10 days and come out looking much better for it when Brentford come to town next Saturday!
If players can’t stand still now that’s Shelvey and Longstaffe out of the squad then.
As for passing the ball as quickly as possible, that’s going to be difficult for a few players to get their heads around as waiting for a man to come directly upon them before attempting to pass forward has become the norm at this club. Dummett and Ritchie are the worst offenders at this but they are by no means the only culprits.
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