Eddie Howe has had a chat with Anthony Gordon about the incident at Brentford

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A lot was made of the incident between Anthony Gordon and Eddie Howe after the winger was substituted in the dying embers of the game at Brentford.

It was inevitable that the incident at Brentford, which saw Anthony Gordon storm past Eddie Howe after being subbed, and even shrugging off his manager, would be mentioned in Friday morning’s pre-match press conference.

As you’d expect, Eddie Howe fielded the question of how the incident was dealt with with his usual poise saying (quotes via The Chronicle): “We’ve had a conversation. His enthusiasm, aggression and motivation levels are really high. It’s one of his strengths and we want to embrace that. But in certain moments he needs a cool head as well.

I’ve got no issue with him at all and he’s trained well this week.”

The Anthony Gordon incident was blown all out of proportion on social media

When it happened the football world was immediately divided into two camps, those that saw the incident as a petulant little brat who disrespected his manager while others saw a passionate player who wanted to stay on the pitch.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle. It’s all well and good having the fire and the passion and wanting to stay on the field, especially when you yourself were a substitute, but you also have to realise that the world is watching and you can’t act like that with your manager in full view of the public.

Howe dealt with it the right way

If Gordon was unhappy with being hooked he should have saved his anger for inside the manager’s office, but he chose to embarrass himself and the club by acting out on the sidelines.

That being said, it was much ado about nothing and it was blown up in the media. Most likely because of who Gordon is, the Everton fans definitely enjoyed seeing him acting out following his acrimonious £45million switch from Goodison.

It sounds like Howe has dealt with it the right way, sitting Gordon down and explaining the situation to him. There’s no need for any further action in my eyes. I think dropping him from the squad would have been too much. Hopefully we’ll see Gordon in action against Aston Villa tomorrow as Newcastle look to end a ten-year winless run at Villa Park.