Eddie Howe has shared which Newcastle United player really impressed him in Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Bournemouth.
It was another disappointing result at home and it’s now over two months since Newcastle last won a game at home, and even that was against a 10-man Fulham side.
But Howe focused on some of the positives in his interview with NUFCTV and wanted to highlight Matt Ritchies’s performance who scored the equalising goal against his former club.
Howe says Richie has been ‘inspirational’ for Newcastle
Ritchie has now been at the club for over eight years after being signed to help get the club out of the Championship and despite all the investment is still playing a big role in the team.
While he’s more often helping out off the pitch, yesterday the 34-year-old was able to grab a huge goal in stoppage time to earn Newcastle a point much to the delight of Howe and his team.
It’s perhaps not the way he drew it out with Ritchie latching on to the end of a cross but it was effective and on a day where Newcastle struggled to create key chances they could not afford to miss this one.
After the game, Howe wanted to take a moment to really appreciate everything Ritchie has done for this Newcastle team behind the scenes and claimed that he’s always one of the best trainers in the side.
On Ritchie, Howe said: “He’s just an incredible guy. Inspirational in lots of different ways and I’m sure if you speak to the other players in the squad they’ll tell you how good he is behind the scenes, how well he trains every day.
“I think today’s a nice moment for us to say how much we love him, how much we respect him because it’s difficult to do that if he’s not scored that goal but he’s as valuable as anyone in that squad.”
Newcastle’s unbeaten run goes on
While many may choose to focus on the negatives and the fact that it’s now just two points against Bournemouth and Luton, the fact remains that Newcastle are now unbeaten in five having won the other three.
It’s not an absolutely incredible run but it’s something that Newcastle have really struggled with this season and they needed a bit of stability as Howe tries to deal with the unexpected number of injuries.
Heading into a huge game away to Arsenal, the 46-year-old will be hoping that this is enough to give them a bit of confidence and belief that they can take something away from the fixture.
One thing is for certain and that is the defending needs to be massively improved if they are to keep the Gunners out who have now scored 21 in their last five games.
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