Eddie Howe explains why Bruno Guimaraes didn’t start against Spurs

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Despite being one of the few players to perform well against Everton, Eddie Howe didn’t start Bruno Guimaraes for Newcastle United’s away clash at Tottenham Hotspur.

Unfortunately for the Magpies, it was an even worse performance this past weekend. Spurs put five past Newcastle after the Toon took the lead through Fabian Schar.

As for Guimaraes, the Brasilian midfielder didn’t make his way onto the pitch until the Toon were 3-1 down. However, Howe did have a fair reason as to why he opted to not start the 24-year-old.

The international break was a contributing factor for Guimaraes not making the Newcastle starting XI

The Chronicle has quoted Howe as saying that he wanted to revert back to the midfield three which led them on a nine-game unbeaten run. This was due to Guimaraes missing a lot of training due to international duty with Brazil.

Howe stated, “I didn’t select him to start with, because I wanted to revert to the midfield which had served us so well with the nine-game unbeaten run, and that fact he hadn’t been training with us and wasn’t able to prepare in the same way as the other players had, so there was a couple of different angles to look at it.”

Whilst some Newcastle fans will have been frustrated, the decision makes sense. There will have been some fatigue on Guimaraes’ end after a couple of games with Brazil.

However, with their next fixture taking place on Friday against Wolves, Howe will need to make changes. After a number of away games, Newcastle returns to St James’ Park.

Hopefully, Bruno is a name that this time around makes the starting XI. He will have had nearly a full week of training under his belt. The midfield three were poor in the second half against Spurs, so the midfielder could easily find his way back into contention.

It’ll be a challenge, Wolves are having a strong season. But since the arrival of the new owners and Howe, St James’ Park is becoming a fortress once again.

The vocal home support could provide the lift that the Magpies need. It’s now three games in a row they’ve lost now. They’re out of the relegation zone, but a few more points should secure their safety for this season.