‘Harsh words’ from Eddie Howe ‘electrify’ Newcastle star to ‘kickstart’ stuttering season
It’s hard to imagine Eddie Howe delivering the “harsh words” that are “sometimes needed”, as he believed they were after defeat to Arsenal on Sunday. Like Luna Lovegood branding Harry Potter a speccy little git or piglet telling Winnie-the-Pooh to f*** off back to Hundred Acre Wood, we can’t conceive of a famously reserved, measured, even timid character delivering the sort of severe dressing down Howe claims was required.
“Whether that is to the team or to individuals, I will usually look to do it on an individual basis,” he added. “What I look for is effort, commitment, desire and organisation. There are so many things that go into a performance.
“I am seeing the effort there, but the quality was lacking. So I have to be very careful. You don’t want to make the morale or the mood worse, I will be very reflective tonight and figure out a way forward tomorrow.”
The big problem has been a lack of goals. Newcastle have drawn a blank in all three of their Premier League away games this season and their last away goal from open play was a header scored by Fabian Schar in a 4-1 defeat at Aston Villa in April. The exit of Alexander Isak is the all-too simplistic excuse.
After six Premier League games last season, the £125m man had scored just one of Newcastle’s eight goals, with Harvey Barnes (3), Anthony Gordon (2), Joelinton and Fabian Schar also on the scoresheets, while Isak’s replacement Nick Woltemade has two of their four top flight goals this term, joined by Bruno Guimaraes and William Osula on their limited list, before the German beanpole got off the mark in the Champions League here.
He didn’t know an awful lot about it. Sandro Tonali’s volley from the edge of the box deflected off him to wrong-foot Kjell Scherpen in the Union Saint-Gilloise goal, but it came about thanks to his 6ft 6in presence in the box and – more crucially – a decent cross to put the defenders under pressure.
We don’t think Joleon Lescott aimed to damn with faint praise when he hailed Anthony Elanga for “consistently running as fast as he can” ahead of the game, but that does sound like a criticism that could easily be aimed at someone who does often look a bit ‘head down and run’ to be considered a £55m winger.
He did do his fast running bit here, and his speed in transition is a big reason why Howe and Newcastle decided to pay that hefty fee to Nottingham Forest after all, but the end product was so much better, mainly having shredded Union left wing-back Ousseynou Niang before delivering from the byline, but also when cutting inside, as he did to win Newcastle’s first penalty with a nifty step over.
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Anthony Gordon converted that spot kick and another following a handball, and it’s worth noting that this is the first time that he, Elanga and Woltemade have started together as Newcastle’s front three – the front three Howe and Toon fans will have imagined leading the line when they were brought together this season.
Woltemade dropping deep to link the play grants the space for either Gordon or Elanga to spin in behind him. And while there are understandable concerns as to whether the German has the pace to get into the box to meet those crosses on the break, that’s not such an issue if the winger on the opposite side can, as Gordon did in one particular instance in the first half.
He also played a major role in the fourth of the evening, wriggling away from challenges in his own box before setting Will Osula away. And Howe will be hugely encouraged by the strength, poise and end product of his backup striker, and the finish from backup winger Harvey Barnes.
“I back our attacking players, we have some outstanding players in those areas and I know we will come good,” Howe said in a bid to ease concerns after the Arsenal game, before revealing his hope that “nights like this can kickstart us”.
Whether it was the nature of that defeat or the “harsh words” he delivered on the back of it, he got a response and then some from his attacking players, and from Elanga in particular, whom Steve Sidwell described as “electric” on commentary after coming close to his menacing best against Union, as part of a front three that showed some very positive signs in their very first outing together.
