Questions will be asked as we failed to capitalise on our impressive performance against PSG, falling to a 4-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Premier League last night.
Anthony Gordon grabbed his long-awaited open play goal with a superb finish in the first half, before a rapid fire brace from Hugo Ekitike put us 2-1 behind before half time.
And from there it seemed all too routine for the reigning Champions, as Florian Wirtz grabbed their third and Ibrahima Konate their fourth as we continued our torrid record at Anfield.
Here’s what Howe had to say after a humbling night under the lights:
On the performance
Last night’s result leaves us six points off the top four, but despite this setback, Howe has urged the players and the fans to not dwell too much on the final scoreline and reflect more on the mostly-positive performance that we put in.
“That’s a really tough scoreline for us. I thought it was a decent performance, and I don’t say that often if we’re losing by three goals.
“I thought we were strong, really good start to the game, thought territory was good, idea was good, attitude from the players was really good, execution was there.
”I just think the thing that’s cost us today is the manner of the goals we conceded, we’re disappointed with that. We wouldn’t normally, by our very high standards, concede those type of goals. I’ve got to give credit to Liverpool, but we’re kicking ourselves really with goals 1 and 2.”
“I think that just sort of summed up the way things went for us. Really disappointed with the first goal, because that of course changes the game massively. We don’t make a couple of good decisions, and we get punished.
“That’s what happens here, if you do anything wrong they’ve got the quality to expose you, from a position of dominance, we find ourselves behind.
“(A good performance) can’t get lost from our view, because that’ll damage our confidence if we do.”
On ongoing away form issues
Anfield is a stadium where we haven’t won since 1994, and having seen all three promoted sides get draws here in recent months, it shouldn’t have been too far out of our reach to get at least a point as well.
But instead our terrible away form continued, and fans should rightfully feel irate that we let a great opportunity slip to get a result over the defending champions.
“It has been a problem for us all season, there is no getting away from that fact. Ideally today we would have played a little differently but we were really hamstrung with injuries so we went the way that we did and I was pleased with the attitude of the players. We saw some really positive signs that can help us in the future.
“We have to keep looking for solutions. We are in a tough run with a lot of away fixtures so we are going to be really finely tuned and hope we can solve our away form and in the next games we can come up with the solutions to take us forward.”
On Botman and Miley
Two notable absentees from tonight’s starting XI were Sven Botman and Lewis Miley – surprise omissions having each been excellent these past few weeks.
But with some crucial games in the Carabao Cup, FA Cup and Champions League, it seems like Howe didn’t want to take any precautions with starting either man.
“Sven had a tight thigh and we were under the advice not to use them. With Lewis he could not bend his knee to declare himself fit.”
On potential transfer activity
Even with £120m+ worth of attackers on the bench, Saturday’s game exposed the lack of real game changers Howe has at his disposal, and the team’s drive pales in comparison to what it shows when both Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton are available.
And Howe’s latest comments hint that any new game changer, or fresh face altogether, won’t be coming in at all before deadline day next week.
When asked about the possibility of making a new signing by the end of the window, Howe simply commented “No.”
The gaffer didn’t rule out that other changes could be coming to the defence however: he added that Jamaal Lascelles could very much go in the next few days as Championship Club eye up his signature, meanwhile loanee Matt Targett could still be recalled from Middlesbrough amidst the fullback injury crisis.
Since 2020, Newcastle have the 7th biggest net spend in the league. The 6 that have spent more are the ‘Big Six’. Newcastle are currently 10th in the league and have the same amount of points as 12th. Declining.
Getting into the particulars, Newcastle played too open against Liverpool. Liverpool struggle against low blocks. Slot has admitted this. Newcastle have fast, dynamic players to hit on the counter. But Newcastle played open…even after going 0-1 up. Naive. This is a big reason for why Newcastle have lost so many points from winning positions this season.
It’s even stranger when Newcastle just played closed against PSG and did well.
This current squad has heart, fight, running, fitness, but lacks quality. It should have more quality considering the net spend.
Howe also never plays academy players in order to rest senior players. He tries to play what he thinks is the strongest team for all 4 competitions. Naive again.
Jeremy(Quote)
How can he be more disappointed with the first goal than the 2nd and 4th??
And what is most worrying is I don’t think we were any worse than we would have been if we had started with 1 of the 2 expensive summer signings up front.
Scott(Quote)
I know! The first one is great play from Wirtz. Ekitike has far too much space for the second, and Thiaw, individually, was bad there. Wirtz is left alone in the box for the third. Looks like that’s mostly Burn’s fault. Burn also gave Ekitike a great chance. The fourth is a fumble from Pope.
In other words, the first is the least frustrating.
Jeremy(Quote)
When you’re starting Ramsey, Willock, and Tonali together, what do you really expect? There’s zero football intelligence in that midfield. But honestly, by halftime, I didn’t care about the “rugby tactics” anymore — I just wanted them to find a way to win, any way.
Howe’s substitutions, especially in big batches, only bring chaos. He’s lost the connection with the squad. Sometimes it feels like he simply doesn’t know how to fix things and is just recycling old notes from his little notebook.
The only move is to bring in a caretaker until summer who can actually motivate the players. Top 5 is still very much achievable. There’s no need to wait for a full-blown crisis to act
hmd(Quote)
We should’ve won at PSG with that midfield…
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
To be fair to Howe, think he would have kept the 3 centre halfs if Botman hadn’t been injured. Still no excuse for being so open thou, just highlight’s the need for strengthening the defence. Bit harsh on the midfield hmd, Tonali and Ramsey showed plenty intelligence against PSG or did you not watch that match.
Darren Bebb(Quote)
It doesn’t take much intelligence to defend zonally — especially in a narrow low block — and then just run straight toward the opposition’s goal. Sprint, put in a hopeful cross, lose the ball ten seconds after winning it — under Howe, that kind of gameplan carries no consequences at all.
But when we actually have to create something ourselves, we can’t manage without Bruno. Our second‑most intelligent central midfielder, Longstaff, was sold without a second thought
hmd(Quote)
Bruno, big Joe and Miley injured (I will criticise him being on the bench if he can’t bend his knee mind)….he picked literally the only 3 midfielders left!
East Stand(Quote)
So Ramsey didn’t use the ball well against PSG didn’t pick players out with forward passes I’d watch the highlights of his performance hmd
Darren Bebb(Quote)
In the second half, the players seemed to forget why they started with three forwards but no centre-forward. They just kept pumping in mechanical crosses into the box, even though the plan clearly called for low cutbacks or shots from distance.
Then, when Howe brought on three forwards at once and took off a central midfielder, lfc completely took over the middle of the park. They had both a numerical and a qualitative advantage in midfield
hmd(Quote)
With midfield problems like that, the obvious move was just to sit in a low block and hit on the counter — especially after taking the lead. There was no need to get dragged into a back-and-forth battle.
hmd(Quote)
Agreed.
Jeremy(Quote)
Olly:-
That midfield against PSG was ok because we were playing a different system and were more difficult to break down.
Joseph(Quote)
Injuries have definitely played a part in the is but more over we don’t have good enough cover, especially in the full back positions. Being in 4 competitions doesn’t help either. Trippier and burn don’t have the pace to track back and that’s really telling now. What is worrying though is the lack of impact our summer signings have had. While other mid table teams seem astute at bringing in gems we seem to be clueless and again where is the recruitment/developmemt with younger players
david nicholls(Quote)
david Nichols :-
👍 we also seem unable to adapt to the circumstances we find ourselves in and we don’t give, Miley apart, the “wonderful” young talents we have brought in the opportunity to show what they can do which means they are not good enough which shows our recruitment in that area is poor, or the players actually are good enough and the management are poor for not giving them the opportunity to show it.
Joseph(Quote)