Eddie Howe has now revealed what he thinks was the big turning point in Newcastle United’s defeat to Nottingham Forest yesterday afternoon.
Newcastle had been 1-0 up in the game thanks to Alexander Isak’s penalty and were pretty much in control before Forest scored three goals in 14 minutes.
In his interview with NUFCTV after the game, Howe claimed that Forest’s equalising goal on the stroke of half-time was a huge blow for Newcastle an turned the momentum of the game around.
Newcastle were simply not good enough vs Forest
You can claim that the players are fatigued and that there’s a long list of injuries at the club all you want, but at the end of the day that Newcastle team should be beating both Forest and Luton regardless of the fitness problems.
The Midlands side were winless in their last seven Premier League games, losing six of them, and were one of only three teams with a poorer away record than Newcastle prior to the game.
There are no excuses for losing that game, especially knowing that the team now have to face Liverpool, Sunderland, Manchester City and Aston Villa in their next four games.
Pressure is starting to build on Howe, though he should have enough credit in the bank to see him through January, but a lot is now riding on beating Sunderland in the FA Cup.
In his interview, Howe said: “I think the first goal we conceded was a cruel moment for us because it was bang on half time.
“The difference between1-0 and 1-1 at that moment in momentum Is big and we’re inches away from possibly making it 2-0 but we get caught with the sucker punch.
“We only have to look at ourselves and blame ourselves for that moment.
“It was probably the key moment in the game looking back now.”
Howe has to make some changes
What we’ve seen from Newcastle in the last few weeks has been very worrying and the way that they are continuing to play has grown stale, so changes now must be made.
That can be both personnel and the way that the team are playing, but something has got to altered or Howe will risk suffering yet more key defeats in what is likely to be the club’s biggest month of the season.
One option that has been presented is switching Dan Burn out for Tino Livramento, though we’ve often seen Howe be loyal to players who have got the club in this position.
Yes, there isn’t a long list of players waiting to be rotated in the squad due to the number of injuries, but there are still things that Howe can change and different ways to set his team up when they are often running on empty.
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