Howe reveals surprise Saturday night setback during update on 3 absent NUFC players

When the team sheets were released on Sunday, many were surprised to see Jonjo Shelvey, Joe Willock and Joelinton ALL absent from our matchday squad.

We expected rotation, but not that, and it’s now emerged why all three were missing at Stamford Bridge.

Eddie Howe has revealed that Joelinton was ‘close’ to making the game but just missed out as his groin issue hadn’t quite settled down.

As for Shelvey and Willock, the NUFC boss has revealed that both fell ill on Saturday night, meaning we were handed a surprise setback just hours before kick off that led to a “complete tactical reshuffle” on Sunday morning.

With this in mind, it makes you realise just how well the likes of Guimaraes and Longstaff did, as both gave as good as they got against Chelsea duo Kante and Jorginho.

Here’s what Howe had to say on the absent trio when speaking after yesterday’s 1-0 defeat:

“Joe[linton] was close this game but didn’t quite make it.

“He trained us with on Saturday but couldn’t complete the session, then we lost Jonjo [Shelvey] and Joe Willock very late [on Saturday night] due to illness, so that meant a complete tactical reshuffle this morning.

“We only had two central midfielders [Bruno Guimaraes and Sean Longstaff] to pick from, throughout the whole squad.

“It obviously meant a very late reshuffle but you wouldn’t know if from the performance.

“That is the biggest credit I can give the players.

Howe then revealed the positives and negatives he took from our performance on the whole, believing we were superb defensively, tactically excellent and pressed very well, until we faded slightly in the second half:

“They really committed to what we asked them to do, and tactically, we were very good.”

“Overall it was a very good defensive performance.

“The players were resilient to not give away too many chances and I can’t speak highly enough about our defensive display.

“Our pressing was good in the first half.

“We faded a bit in the second half, which is understandable, with the players we have out.

“We got too deep and they punished us.

“On the ball we could have been better but what has brought us these good results of late was our defensive endeavour and that was present again today.”

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

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