Eddie Howe has warned his Newcastle players that a difficult ‘few weeks’ cannot extend into ‘months’, but also says it would be foolish for anyone to write off a group who took the club into the Champions League against all odds.
The Magpies head to Liverpool on Monday evening on the back of six defeats in seven in all competitions and, for the first time since August, they are outside the European places.
With Premier League games against Manchester City and Aston Villa to come before the end of the month, there is a danger their fortunes could get worse before they get better.
Howe said: ‘No part of me doubts the ability in the squad – no, not at all. The character? No, not at all. I just think we’ve had a difficult few weeks, and it happens.
‘But what you can’t do is allow those difficult few weeks to hang over and become a difficult few months, so the challenge for us is to bring our best qualities back to the football pitch.’
Eddie Howe has warned his Newcastle players not to let a tough few weeks turn into a difficult few months
Newcastle have suffered defeats in their last three matches across all competitions
The Magpies were beaten 3-0 by Nottingham Forest at St James’ Park on Boxing Day
He added: ‘Certainly you can question a lot of things, but I don’t think you can question the character and attitude of the group. And even in a disappointing defeat against Nottingham Forest (3-1 on Boxing Day), we kept going until the end.
‘Of course, we know we need to play better. But the attitude and character of the players for two-and-a-bit years has been of the highest level.’
Howe’s own position is safe and the club’s owners accept this was always going to be a challenging campaign with Champions League football for the first time in 20 years. Injuries have mounted and, with form suffering, confidence has also taken a hit.
The head coach, however, insists that he will never lose his own head amid the team’s struggle.
‘One of my strengths – I have lots of weaknesses, as we all have – but a strength is that I can, under pressure, stay calm and see things for what they are,’ he said.
‘You are going to get bad results as a football manager, it is part of the job, and another part is to find ways to come back and to make your team better.
‘It’s about not overreacting. You have to see a game for what it is. You have to acknowledge we could have beaten Chelsea (in the Carabao Cup). We could have not conceded that penalty against PSG and then the whole Champions League experience might have been different.
They take on Liverpool at Anfield on Monday night, but have dropped out of the European places for the first time since August
Despite their recent run of form, Howe insisted that his players should not be written off
‘We could have been 2-0 up on the stroke of half-time against Forest, but we weren’t. You have to be careful not to judge yourself or your team against moments in a football match. You just hope over time you get those moments right.’
Does some of the recent criticism and scrutiny fuel Howe?
‘I block it out but, of course, you know the narrative,’ he said. ‘I’m not stupid, you know the questions being asked and I think that does fuel me, of course it does.
‘You’re in a job where you’re there to be questioned and you have to continually try and find the right answers, and that’s what we’ll do.
‘We’re still very ambitious for this season and we haven’t given up hope or belief that we are capable of fighting back (into the European places), for sure.’
