Eddie Howe has spoken again about scoring struggles for Newcastle United. In the final third, he cannot make decisions for players and feels an evolving group of threats “need [to be] firing” soon if chances are not going to keep passing them by in the Premier League and Champions League.
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‘I don’t he overthinks too much’
After a last gasp 2-1 defeat to Arsenal, Howe feels that his men are stung but not downtrodden.
“I don't necessarily feel that in a sense of a hangover. I think for me it should be a motivator. It should be a that we if you could replay those moments again, we would have to do better as a group and respond better to the threat that we faced in those final three few minutes. We needed to do better in those last few minutes. We have to use that as motivation now to go again, regroup, and come back.”
Positive displays without the end product
There have been positive performances this year, but results have not followed. The team have not scored away in the Premier League (drawing 0-0 at Aston Villa, Bournemouth, and Leeds United) and failed to maximise openings against Liverpool or Barcelona in defeats at St. James' Park.
“Ultimately we've lost games that we don't plan to lose or expect to lose. So, our expectations of ourselves are higher than that. I think we have to push the group for more. Our expectations of ourselves have to be of the highest form. Otherwise, we'll never grow and we'll never step forward.”
Striker departures leave a gap
The game is decided in both boxes, and at the offensive end, Howe has always been a fan of stocking squads with several strikers. However, Callum Wilson went away on a free to West Ham United, and Alexander Isak forced his way out of Tyneside for £125 million to sign for Liverpool.
A knee injury on national duty for £55 million man Yoane Wissa meant more responsibility has been entrusted to record club signing Nick Woltemade. The German has got headed goals against Wolves and Arsenal and he does not seem to be threatened by the noise around his signature from Stuttgart.
“I don't think he necessarily overthinks things too much, which is a really big strength. I think it's that whatever we've paid for him is irrelevant. It's going to be what he's going to be judged on is how he performs in the team and what he gives to the club going forward. So, I would urge any footballer to try and dust that off. He's very relaxed. He looks like he's enjoying his football, enjoying being here.”
The quartet who must fire
On the other hand, Howe had identified his quartet of wide men as a group to get more out of. Jacob Murphy has been managing an Achilles issue, Anthony Elanga is settling after his £55 million move from Nottingham Forest, Harvey Barnes has not been the sharpest in the final third, and Anthony Gordon has filled in centrally before he received a red card for a late tackle on Virgil van Dijk.
“You'd have to go sort of go broke go down to each individual player to give a full description and obviously I'm not going to do that. I think um it's been a bit stop start for all of them. I don't think there's been much fluency for any of the four. I think that will be the challenge for them to bring their best performances. They're so important because they all bring something slightly different.”
Ultimately, their productivity and directness will dictate a lot of the service to Woltemade, and just how well the team can turn their application and energy into genuine opportunities and goals.
“We need them firing. We need them firing in terms of goal scoring, goal creating, and ultimately if you play with wingers, as we have done historically, if they're not performing, they hurt the system.”
