Newcastle United continue in a poor run of form.
In fact, their defeat against Nottingham Forest at home on Boxing Day could even be their worst in the Premier League yet. The loss to Luton before Christmas was disappointing but a relatively tight affair during which Newcastle had a goal ruled out, after all.
Forest, on the other hand, could have inflicted more damage on Newcastle even despite Chris Wood’s hat-trick.
A truly worrying performance and one labelled “shocking” by club legend Alan Shearer, things need to improve.
Speaking after the game, Eddie Howe shared what’s been going on behind the scenes.
Newcastle news: Eddie Howe shares what Newcastle haven’t been able to do properly “in months”
Indeed, the Newcastle manager claimed the team have not been able to train properly “in months” now.
“I don’t think we were far away today”, he said (via Lee Ryder).
“We need to train properly for perhaps the first time in months.”
Newcastle: Quick-fire improvement needed
It would be foolish to dismiss Newcastle’s hectic schedule amid an injury crisis as one of the reasons for their slump out of hand.
While attributing the current malaise solely to that might be making things too simplistic as the likes of Shearer have said, it can’t really be ignored.
Howe has proven himself on the coaching field having yielded huge returns out of the likes of Joelinton, Fabian Schar, Sean Longstaff and Miguel Almiron during his time in charge.
With more time on the training pitch by way of fewer games in cup competitions, it stands to reason that Howe will be able to work some of that magic again.
If he cannot find a solution even with the added training time then this season really will start to take a turn for the worse.
Things certainly need to improve quickly.
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