Howe speaks to Gary Lineker after 4-0 win over Ipswich - Brilliant from the boss
"Absolutely delighted" Newcastle manager Eddie Howe gave a glowing review of another impressive showing with the 4-0 dispatch of Ipswich.
Alexander Isak's hat-trick at Portman Road to end our five-year drought will rightly grab the headlines but it was another strong performance from a squad that has found the consistency they craved in recent weeks.
Howe rightly lumped the praise onto his players after another dominant display earned them their third win in a week.
Howe speaks to Lineker about Toon turnaround
Speaking to Gary Lineker after Saturday afternoon's game, the former Bournemouth manager gave some insight into the turnaround since the 4-2 defeat at Brentford.
“Absolutely delighted with the players and what they’ve given this week. It’s been a really big week for getting through to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup was one of the big aims and our league form needed to improve, so brilliant to get back-to-back wins.
“Constantly trying to tweak things and trying to improve. I think we have tweaked a number of little things really to try and upturn our form. I think we have looked a lot better the last few weeks, our creative play has been back to what it’s always been really. Free-scoring and look like we can create at any time, so delighted with the contribution of the whole team.”
“For me there’s no doubting (Isak’s) quality. We just needed to get the framework of the team right to give him the opportunity to score and try and get him on the ball more especially in the attacking areas and he’s really responded well. The goals today just show his class, and his coolness in front of goal and his speed and his technical ability. He just has a bit of everything.”
The impressive hat-trick started with just 26 seconds of football played deservedly earned the manager's credit, but as Howe says - it's the contribution of the whole team in recent weeks that have allowed our centre-forward to be so prolific.
Howe's message on January window
The chat concluded with a look forward to the January window, with Howe delivering his message on what Toon fans can expect.
“The message towards the January transfer window is that we probably, at this moment in time in our journey forward, need to concentrate on the players that we do have and to try and get the very best out of them instead of trying to look externally.”
Diplomatic and tight-lipped as ever, recent weeks have shown Howe get the best out of the squad at his disposal - though many would argue the club need reinforcements sooner rather than later if we are to maintain our current form.
