Eddie Howe attempts to explain pathetic performance at Man City - “It was painful”
Eddie Howe has expressed his disappointment with Newcastle’s poor performance against Manchester City, saying the club can’t look for excuses to justify the defeat.
The Mags fell to a lacklustre 4-0 loss away to the Champions, with Omar Marmoush’s first senior hat trick and James McAtee’s goal separating the two sides.
With crunch fixtures against Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Liverpool in the near future, Howe has warned “We have to dust ourselves off for next week." or they risk a repeat of today’s performance.
Howe not happy with performance
Speaking to the media after the game, Howe was honest in his reflections on a dismal day at the office.
"It was painful to watch from the sidelines. We were a yard off where we needed to be. We seemed to be reactive. We allowed their good technical players too much space."
“It was a tough game, they are still the toughest team to play against. We were not at our best today.”
“Goals change games, and the goal we concede early was a tough one for us. All the goals we conceded today we will look back on with frustration. It becomes difficult when you chase the game today, really tough.”
From the first minute, Newcastle were outclassed by their opponents. The manager affirmed that there could be no excuses for a standard of performance seen far too many times this season.
“We can't look for excuses, there are a load of reasons we could look at, but the players should have been fresh and ready to perform, they didn't.”
“We've got some tough games, the fixture list will test us. We have to dust ourselves off for next week.”
On squad mentality ahead of the Carabao Cup
Some fans have been quick to say that if Newcastle were to repeat today’s performance, the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool will be an even more difficult task.
But Howe has insisted that the pressure of knowing the final is coming has had no impact on his players’ mentality, and they continue to tackle each game individually.
“I don’t think today was anything to do with the Cup Final from my perspective. We have to look at this game on isolation.”
“I don’t think we can be too clever in our analysis. We have to learn lessons.”
https://youtu.be/p6oCAgeDQcQ?si=EhA_mPXZrc3sdB8_
On what went wrong at Man City
Despite both Newcastle and Eddie Howe’s own respective poor records against Manchester City at the Etihad, the Magpies had hoped that they could capitalise on City’s midweek capitulation against Real Madrid to secure a result.
Instead, Newcastle’s passive, conservative football was a far cry from the attacking, high-press that we’ve seen work so well this season.
“I think the plan was to be that aggressive front-foot team but Manchester City have a way of playing that makes it difficult.”
“They get out of really difficult situations, we put a lot of effort in trying to sustain them but then ultimately you become fatigued.”
“It was a tough day at the office - they played well, we didn't.”
