Eddie Howe left speechless by Newcastle United players question moments after Bournemouth loss
Newcastle United 1-2 Bournemouth: Eddie Howe gave arguably his most telling answer in a press conference all season, without having to say a word.
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe struggled to answer a key question about his players following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth at St James’ Park.
Goals from Marcus Tavernier and Adrien Truffert either side of William Osula’s equaliser condemned the Magpies to an eighth defeat in 11 Premier League games.
It piles more pressure on Howe, who insisted ahead of the game that his ‘fire’ was ‘burning very strongly’ in terms of his deserive to deliver results for the club.
“In terms of my fire, my fire is burning very, very strongly,” Howe said. “There’s no guarantee obviously, from my side, what’s going to happen in the future because, as I’ve said, the forces that move in football clubs move quickly. But my fire is there. There’s loads of wood stacked up and I’m ready to put it on it.
But when asked the same question about his players following the Bournemouth defeat, the Newcastle boss paused for more than seven seconds before finally breaking his silence.
A long pause from Eddie Howe
“Yeah, I mean, I’m hesitating because I’m speaking on behalf of other people, and that’s very difficult to do,” Howe said. “I believe they do. As I say, from what I see in the training ground, I don’t see any sense of poor attitude or poor commitment to their work.
“I see a group of players that are always giving their all. I don’t see an issue in that. And if I did, I would say so, or I would say behind the scenes and make the following adjustments.
“So obviously my team selection in part represents that as well. I pick who I feel trains well. I pick who I feel deserves to play based on what I see.So, of course, that represents a sort of statement, if you like. But that’s always been the case.
“Of course, we all need to give more. The players need to give more. I need to give more to turn the results around.”
Season over
With five games left to play, Newcastle sit 14th in the Premier League table and are set to miss out on Europe.
“Of course it can [turn around],” Howe added. “It’s just winning games. It’s a very simple remedy, but very hard to deliver.
“But momentum is against us at the moment.”