The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Magpies hoping for Ewood glory
us that day. It was an important win.” Howe stated on Saturday night, after the 4-1 loss to Arsenal, that, “There is a lot resting on this next game.”
A day later he did not deny that players were playing for their futures.
This quote about so much resting on events at Ewood Park was picked up by Jeff Stelling on his Talksport show yesterday morning as he suggested it could be more than seasondefining for all concerned in blackand-white. Unusually, Howe was thrust back in front of the cameras less than 48 hours after the hammering against the Gunners.
He barely raised a smile at his Press conference, and the media call was 10 minutes shorter than normal. Fans won’t want to see Howe laughing and joking after a defeat in truth and would rather Newcastle are smiling at full-time in Lancashire.
One positive to clutch at is Joe Willock’s return and his consolation goal, which at least suggested there was some fight left in the team.
Howe said: “When you have a difficult day as we did the key thing is that you don’t stop throughout the game. You keep your levels of professionalism as high as you can.
“I think we scored a really good goal at the end involving Harvey, Dan and Joe all combining to score. We did leave with a slightly better feeling than if we hadn’t produced that moment. You have to cling to positives on difficult days.”
And there have been few days more difficult for Howe than Saturday night, with the manner of performance worrying for him and the club’s board. Progress in the Cup offers everybody breathing space and optimism with one last road to Wembley still open to Newcastle.
Defeat against the struggling Championship side?
Well, that’s almost unthinkable.