Eddie Howe has expressed his disappointment with Newcastle’s poor performance against Manchester City, saying the club can’t look for excuses to justify the defeat.
The Mags fell to a lacklustre 4-0 loss away to the Champions, with Omar Marmoush’s first senior hat trick and James McAtee’s goal separating the two sides.
With crunch fixtures against Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Liverpool in the near future, Howe has warned “We have to dust ourselves off for next week.” or they risk a repeat of today’s performance.
Howe not happy with performance
Speaking to the media after the game, Howe was honest in his reflections on a dismal day at the office.
“It was painful to watch from the sidelines. We were a yard off where we needed to be. We seemed to be reactive. We allowed their good technical players too much space.”
“It was a tough game, they are still the toughest team to play against. We were not at our best today.”
“Goals change games, and the goal we concede early was a tough one for us. All the goals we conceded today we will look back on with frustration. It becomes difficult when you chase the game today, really tough.”
From the first minute, Newcastle were outclassed by their opponents. The manager affirmed that there could be no excuses for a standard of performance seen far too many times this season.
“We can’t look for excuses, there are a load of reasons we could look at, but the players should have been fresh and ready to perform, they didn’t.”
“We’ve got some tough games, the fixture list will test us. We have to dust ourselves off for next week.”
On squad mentality ahead of the Carabao Cup
Some fans have been quick to say that if Newcastle were to repeat today’s performance, the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool will be an even more difficult task.
But Howe has insisted that the pressure of knowing the final is coming has had no impact on his players’ mentality, and they continue to tackle each game individually.
“I don’t think today was anything to do with the Cup Final from my perspective. We have to look at this game on isolation.”
“I don’t think we can be too clever in our analysis. We have to learn lessons.”
On what went wrong at Man City
Despite both Newcastle and Eddie Howe’s own respective poor records against Manchester City at the Etihad, the Magpies had hoped that they could capitalise on City’s midweek capitulation against Real Madrid to secure a result.
Instead, Newcastle’s passive, conservative football was a far cry from the attacking, high-press that we’ve seen work so well this season.
“I think the plan was to be that aggressive front-foot team but Manchester City have a way of playing that makes it difficult.”
“They get out of really difficult situations, we put a lot of effort in trying to sustain them but then ultimately you become fatigued.”
“It was a tough day at the office – they played well, we didn’t.”
> “I think the plan was to be that aggressive front-foot team but Manchester City have a way of playing that makes it difficult.”
He wants to say that he had a plan to play high and aggressively, but the players didn’t follow the instructions? In my opinion, that’s a lie. I watched the team—they played low, absolutely without any pressing. I looked at the coaching staff—they were just standing on the sidelines, not signaling the players to push higher. They looked completely demoralized and shocked. This fear transferred to the team.
Furthermore, Howe fielded Trippier, who is clearly out of form, and once again played Willock, who for some reason is rated higher than Miley and Longstaff. At halftime, he substituted both.
Howe keeps making the same mistakes over and over and doesn’t seem to be willing to change.
I don’t understand why this coach has been given so much trust. Essentially, he’s no better than, say, Enzo Maresca. We have an excellent squad of players that deserves a top-tier specialist.
hmd(Quote)
In the League Cup final, it will be the same kind of game, paralyzed by fear. In the end, we’ll once again end up without a trophy. These are psychological issues, fine. But in terms of gameplay, there are also many weaknesses. The team doesn’t know how to play possession football. The entire tactic is to run forward as soon as they get the ball. If the opponent has the ball, press. There’s no tactical flexibility. Yes, it’s simple, effective football, sometimes executed to perfection. But you need to be able to suffocate the opponent, make them chase the ball. Howe doesn’t know how to do that.
hmd(Quote)
hmd I’ve mentioned many times before as much as I like Howe his flaw of being overly loyal is effecting us and himself at times. Yesterday was good example IMO,trying to replicate what he did against Aresnal Schar pushing into midfield at times Trippier coming over to make it a so called back 3 with Murphy dropping to full back why not just play Krafth and try to play it properly the other rewarding Willock for his 2 goals last week. Not saying we would have won, but might have give us a chance
Darren Bebb(Quote)
Against Arsenal, there was a back three of center-backs. Schär pushed into midfield to mark his assigned player (I don’t remember exactly who, maybe Rice). In that case, there were two center-backs left behind. Trippier as the third defender was a disaster. Krafth would have been more useful. But yesterday, it was a different setup, 4-5-1, I think. Overall, the main issue wasn’t the choice of players or tactics, but the fear and abandonment of our own style
hmd(Quote)
hmd agree having a back 3 with 3 actual center halfs was a big difference against Aresnal. Yesterday did look like Trippier was coming over to attempt to make it 3 center halfs with Murphy dropping to full back . And that get’s back to my previous comment of Howe wanting to loyal and rewarding to the 2 previous games
Darren Bebb(Quote)
“We weren’t at our best today”….really…again!
“It was painful to watch” really…again!
Same old rhetoric…again!
What is worrying Howe doesn’t have the ability to find the answer to players who think that by just turning up they can win.
Joseph(Quote)