Happy snap shows the togetherness at United
NEWCASTLE United did not get to celebrate their first victory of the campaign until December last season.
The Magpies did not have to wait quite so long this time around as they started the new campaign with a 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest on the opening day.
As is now tradition, players and staff gathered for a team photograph in the dressing room after the game.
They say a picture paints a thousand words - and that was certainly the case on Saturday.
A beaming Sven Botman, who only came on to the field for the final minute of the game, has his left arm raised in triumph while Martin Dubravka, who lost his place to new signing Nick Pope, is roaring in delight.
The pair’s respective reactions sum up the togetherness, spirit and team-first mentality Eddie Howe has been desperate to retain this summer.
It goes without saying, of course, that Botman and Dubravka were disappointed to have been left out but the pair will have appreciated how Howe took them aside to explain his reasoning in the run-up to the game.
There was an occasion in a previous era where one Newcastle player first learned he was going to be dropped after reading about it in the press but there was never any danger of that happening under Howe.
He said: “I will always speak to the players.
“Big decisions need to be communicated.
If you can give players an insight into your decision – not necessarily too much detail around it but certainly the key reasons why you have made the call – that can only benefit you and them.”
For Dubravka, who has been firstchoice at Newcastle for so long, it was a particularly devastating blow but the veteran never showed it.
He previously worked with goalkeepers at other clubs who refused to serve him in the warm-up or made him collect stray balls but the Slovakia international was not about to follow suit.
Dubravka instead hugged Pope and gave the new number one a big pat on the back as he wished him luck after his teammate completed his warm-up. Botman will have recognised Howe was effectively protecting him – just as he did when Bruno Guimaraes joined the club in January following his own move from France. Botman may be one of Europe’s most promising young centrebacks, who has already won a Ligue 1 title and played in the Champions
League, but the new arrival will still need an adjustment period on and off the field.
Just as the pace of the Premier League will have struck him from sitting on the bench on Saturday, so too has the intensity and tempo of training under Howe where there are no breaks between drills like there were at Lille.
Given his composure, it is easy to forget Botman has only trained with the club for a month and only moved out of a hotel into his new home just a few days ago.
There is no doubt the 22-year-old will play a huge part in Newcastle’s long-term goal of playing in Europe but Howe’s decision sent a positive message to the dressing room.
Even United’s most expensive summer signing was not going to walk into the side as Howe kept faith with Dan Burn and Fabian Schar, who served the Magpies so well last season.