Eddie Howe covered a range of topics when speaking to the media at the club’s training base this morning, confirming an upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia, reacting to Lewis Hall’s England call-up and sharing his ambitions at Newcastle on his three-year anniversary at the club.
Starting with our Saudi plans, Howe revealed that those not away on international duty will be heading to the Middle East in the days following Sunday’s trip to Forest. “We will get some warm weather training. We will go to Saudi Arabia for three or four days,” he confirmed.
As for Hall, who received his first call-up to the England national team on Thursday, Howe has hailed the 20-year-olds development at such a young age, feeling he’s not reaping the rewards of his hard work last season after staying behind to do “double sessions and individual work” on all aspects of his game (read full quotes below).
Howe also commented on his three-year anniversary at the club, feeling “so pleased” with how it’s gone so far. However, he insisted there is so much to come and a drive to do “extraordinary things”, with the ambitions in his fourth year being “consistency” and “progression” in amongst a highly competitive Premier League. See his quotes in full below:
Howe on Hall’s England call-up – “We’re seeing him evolve and develop week in, week out. At the moment, I think he’s adding to his game all the time. But yeah, I mean, it’s a great achievement for someone so young.
“We signed a very talented player. There’s no doubt about that. He just had a few things to work on – as you do. I think the most impressive thing about Lewis last year was that he committed to that, and the work that you put in behind the scenes that no one sees – the double sessions & the individual work – credit to him for doing that and staying very in the present and being able to day in, day out, produce consistency in his training performances.
“He’s now reaping the rewards from that, and we say to new players all the time when they come to the football club, you have to go through some kind of process to get to the end point.”
Howe on three years at Newcastle – “I’m so pleased with how it’s gone. It feels good to still be here! When you come in you’re never sure how things are going to go.
“When you look back on the three years, you look back on lots of good memories and positive feelings. We believe we can do extraordinary things. That is at the focal point of everything we do every day.”
“I think the fourth year we’re looking at progression. We’re looking at improvement. We’re looking at a really tight Premier League this year. So consistency, I think, is a big a big word for us.
“It’s not necessarily the most interesting response, I know, but these are the things that we judge ourselves by. It’s going to be a tight Premier League this year so the teams that are able to put those winning spells and sequences together will have the best chance of success, and that’s what they’re trying to do.”
