Eddie Howe’s Newcastle team have slipped to ninth in the Premier League (Picture: Getty Images)
Eddie Howe has reminded his Newcastle players that they are performing for their futures at the club after admitting ‘every aspect of our game was off’ in the weekend defeat to Arsenal.
The Magpies were comfortably beaten 4-1 at the Emirates on Saturday, with only a late Joe Willock consolation against his former club giving the score line some respectability.
It was the 11th defeat of the Premier League season for Howe’s side, leaving them ninth in the table and with hopes of repeating last season’s top four finish realistically at an end.
The club is still extremely ambitious, with their Saudi owners expecting success after the amount of money they have invested and Howe is under no illusions that everyone is performing for their futures at St James’ Park.
‘I can’t disagree with that sentiment,’ Howe said when asked if the players need to remember their futures are at stake.
‘There have been performances where we’ve not been at our best and you can understand – we were disjointed, had players out of position, no substitutes, relying on 11 players continually. This game was different. We just did not perform and we have to take responsibility for that.
‘We need to do better in lots of areas of the game. That performance stands alone this season. The others, there has usually been a reason for it and we can work out where the performance has come from. For whatever reason, every aspect of our game was off.’
Newcastle’s players have the chance to bounce back at Blackburn on Tuesday (Picture: Getty Images)
Newcastle boasted a brilliantly solid defence last season, conceding just 33 goals in 38 league games, but this time round they have leaked 45 in just 26 matches so far.
They, like many clubs, have had to deal with a huge number of injuries, but Howe says they must return to how hard they were to face a year ago rather than the relatively soft touch they have become.
‘We don’t want to be easy to play against,’ he said. ‘We want to be very difficult to play against. We didn’t execute what we wanted to do against Arsenal well enough. That’s clear. That’s clear from the performance and I take responsibility for that.
‘We have to find solutions with the different players we have playing now to still be effective defensively and effective the other way, and at the minute the balance isn’t right.
‘But I think regardless of how you tactically set up, it’s individuals doing their jobs and making sure you don’t make individual errors. I think we’ve been guilty of a combination of a lot of those things in the last few weeks.’
There is a distraction from the Premier League campaign for Howe and his men on Tuesday night when they go to Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup fifth round.
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