According to The Telegraph, Eddie Howe held clear-the-air talks with Anthony Gordon this week following his angry reaction to being substituted last Saturday.
The report states that the 15-minute meeting took place on Tyneside, featuring an apology from the winger who has come under criticism for his response to being taken off in the closing stages of our 2-1 win at Brentford.
It’s believed Gordon has escaped a fine for his conduct and the matter is now closed after our January signing met with the manager to discuss the incident, admitting he was “overly emotional” at the time.
Speaking about his reaction in today’s press conference, Howe has discussed his apology and praised his character – believing he wouldn’t be the same player if he didn’t have that “fierce determination” and “aggression” to his game. However, he’s warned Gordon to keep a “cool head” in the future and doesn’t condone his actions:
“Anthony accepted he was overly emotional and we moved on very quickly. He just needs a little bit of refining around the edges” Howe said.
“He felt the need to apologise and it’s really important that I help him. He’s a young player with so much talent and ability but he needs help to get to where his career should go. Fingers crossed we can work on that together.
“His enthusiasm, aggression and motivation levels are really high and he’s fiercely determined to do well. It’s one of his hallmarks, one of his strengths and we want to embrace that. We love that about him but in certain moments he needs a cool head. I’ve got no issue with him at all, he’s trained really well this week.
“I don’t condone it, but a part of me understood why he acted like he did.
“I don’t want to see any player reacting like that because suddenly you’ll have a team that looks like it doesn’t have the discipline that it needs. I made a decision based on Anthony going down holding his ankle based on the fact there were seconds left to do what I felt was needed to win the game. He needed to accept that and if he had an issue to come and see me in private. On the positive side, he changed the game after coming on.”
