Eddie Howe - "We're ready"
Eddie Howe has conveyed a clear message when speaking to the media ahead of Newcastle United’s Premier League run-in.
It has been over two weeks since the Carabao Cup victory at Wembley. An international break allowed the party to continue, culminating in a mass gathering at the Town Moor to celebrate the end of a 70-year domestic trophy drought as a fanbase.
Tonight sees the Mags get back to business against Brentford. Every point matters in the push for a Champions League qualification spot, with top five enough to secure a position in European football’s premiere club competition.
"We're ready" - Eddie Howe
Momentum can continue from the historic day at Wembley with the Newcastle squad ready to return to action in front of what should be an incredible atmosphere at St. James’ Park.
Howe certainly seems confident that we are ready to get back at it, with what is likely to be an unchanged XI from the cup final with Sven Botman and Lewis Hall both injured and Anthony Gordon serving the final game of his ban.
"I think we are [ready to play again],” said Howe. “I think we enjoyed the break, I think we enjoyed sort of the line going through the cup final.
"I know we've had a bit of time to absorb what happened in that game. Thankfully it was positive, but I think now we're ready to play again. I think we've been ready to play again for a while.
"That's what we do and we're still in the middle of the season, so it's quite a long break, we have to try and navigate that as well as we can, with all the emotion around the game that you've just had.
"Hopefully we're ready to play. Of course we've had a split group, we've had quite small numbers. Only recently we've now got the group back together but I think we're focused."
10 big opportunities up for grabs
Newcastle have every chance of securing Champions League football if we are at our best in the final 10 games of the season.
We proved against the Prem champions-elect at Wembley that when we can play our game we can beat anybody in this division. To come close to replicating the achievement of nine wins in a row (six of those in the league) from the turn of the year would see us reach our goal comfortably.
The approach of Eddie Howe is to forget about what we have already accomplished this season, and put all our energy into finishing the season even stronger. There has to be optimism soaring through the squad at the moment.
"It has been a case of resetting and looking at our goals again in a different way,” said Howe. “We need to put what happened against Liverpool to the back of our minds and now really focus on the final ten games.
"Ten great opportunities to grab and try to turn our Premier League season into a memorable one as well as the cup final. Hopefully the lads are boosted and have renewed confidence.”
