Newcastle’s relentless January continues today, with an FA Cup clash with Bournemouth sandwiched between Wednesday’s 4-3 win over Leeds and next Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg with Man City.
We’re two games down this month and have taken maximum points so far, but we still have SEVEN more to come this month, with Wolves, PSV, Aston Villa, PSG and Liverpool to follow our upcoming cup double.
With that in mind, rotation is essential to manage the players’ fitness, keep the squad happy and ensure those stepping onto the pitch can give 100%.
On that note, Eddie Howe has confirmed that he’ll have to shake things up today, vowing the “use the squad” and “make the right selections” based on form, fitness and fatigue:
“I think we will have to rotate the team. We have done that all season.
“It would be wise for us to use the squad. We will review this game individually and try and make the right selections.”
That said, Howe has vowed to pick a strong side that’s more than capable of winning the match, warning his side that they must not “relax” as he looks to keep the momentum building after three straight wins and 10 victories from 12 at home:
“We can’t relax. The momentum has to continue through the next games we have.
“We will pick a very strong team while trusting the squad.
“In no way will we want to do anything other than winning the game and getting through.”
The boss then revealed how happy he’s been with the fitness of the team in recent games, believing we’d done so well to come on strong in late wins over Palace and Leeds considering our busy schedule and injury list:
“I have to give compliments to the players fitness wise, especially considering the style that we try to implement and how the players adapt to that with the schedule we have – it is incredibly difficult.
“If you looked at us the other day, I thought we were physically the stronger team in the latter stages which is a credit to their professionalism and the work the sports science team and medical team do with the players. I was really pleased with that aspect.”
