Eddie Howe watched on as Newcastle United lost at Anfield.
Liverpool winning 4-1 when the final whistle sounded.
A match where Newcastle United were by far the better team for the opening 40 minutes and worth at least the 1-0 lead that Anthony Gordon had given them.
Only for two quickfire Liverpool goals on 41 and 43 minutes to transform the match and the final result.
Eddie Howe describing what he had watched in those opening 40 or so minutes; “I think we played really well in that opening passage of the game. Really dominant, strong, territory was really good. We didn’t create a whole host of chances in that period but we were the better team and deservedly scored.”
As I said earlier, those goals for the hosts on 41 and 43 minutes, turning the whole game on its head.
Eddie Howe asked if his team had ‘Imploded’ in those couple of minutes; “Imploded? I don’t know if that is the right word, but we didn’t defend well enough for those two goals and we will go through both and pick them apart. That is what happens here though, if you get the crowd in the game and we did, before you know it we are chasing the game.”
Looking back at what happened, the NUFC boss adding; “We are really disappointed because I thought it was a strong performance and 4-1 is really hard on us, as we scored a great goal, started really strongly and we were a strong counter attack threat.”
The summer was of course dominated by transfer sagas.
Eddie Howe putting in a bid to buy Hugo Elitike to add to Alexander Isak, or replace him, only for both strikers to instead end up at Anfield.
Isak watched on from the sidelines at Anfield as it was Ekitike who scored those two quickfire goals before half-time that transformed this match.
Eddie Howe giving an honest appraisal of what happened; “You have got to give Hugo Ekitike credit…but our organisation is usually good and we haven’t covered ourselves in glory. Key moments in the game let us down…we are kicking ourselves.”
We all knew that United faced an incredibly tough four or so weeks, with seven of eight games away from home and high quality opposition in most.
The defending was excellent against PSG but individual errors undermined Newcastle at Anfield.
Eddie Howe giving this overview; “The thing that has cost us today is the manner of the goals we have conceded and we wouldn’t normally, by our very high standards, concede those types of goals. It has been a problem for us all season and 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 and 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.”
Eddie Howe changed his personnel and formation from the PSG match.
With Gordon, Barnes and Trippier replacing Woltemade, Miley and Botman.
The Head Coach explaining that his decisions were partly forced and partly through choice
Eddie Howe; “We wanted to go for real pace against their backline. That was the idea behind selection. Anthony Gordon played really well…not just his goal but his all round play, his athleticism and his technical ability, I think it helped the team. We gave them problems. We could not use Sven Botman and Lewis Miley, so the team selection and formation was forced upon on us. 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.”
Despite that late first half turn around, Newcastle United came out after the break and did ok, until Malick Thiaw gifted possession on 67 minutes and Wirtz made sure of the Liverpool win.
Eddie Howe saying that during the half-time break; “The message was that we are still very much in the game and to keep passing the ball. We felt like we were giving them problems. Our athleticism was really strong today. We started the second half really strongly.”
The schedule gets no easier, as United now go to play Man City on Wednesday night, needing to turn around a two goal deficit in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.
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