'I'm not blind' - Eddie Howe hits back at 'sinister' Newcastle United claim with brutal honesty
Eddie Howe has acknowledged there are ‘issues’ at Newcastle United following a poor start to the Premier League season.
Newcastle United return to Premier League action against Manchester City at St James’ Park on Saturday (5:30pm kick-off), sitting two points above the relegation zone.
The Magpies have lost their last two league matches 3-1 at West Ham United and Brentford. While they have won their last five home matches in all competitions, they are without a league win against Manchester City in any of their last 12 encounters.
After finishing fifth and winning the Carabao Cup last season, big questions have been asked regarding Newcastle’s poor Premier League form as head coach Eddie Howe searches for the answers.
Eddie Howe delivers brutally honest Newcastle United verdict
Howe was asked whether Newcastle’s poor form on the pitch could be down to deeper, more ‘sinister’ issues behind the scenes.
"Naturally, people assume it is something sinister or something bad,” the Newcastle boss replied. “People assume there are big problems if you are getting bad results.
"Sometimes that is the case. I'm not blind or trying to stick my head in the sand or saying we don't have issues.
"Because our Premier League form would say that we have. Acknowledging those issues is important.
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"Sometimes you have to look for something deeper and it could be the case that you are missing key players or your key players aren't playing well enough.
"Or something that we are delivering isn't good enough in our preparation. We are looking through everything and trying to find a new way forward to give us consistent results.
"The biggest thing for me is are the players giving their all?
"If the players aren't giving their all, maybe it is something sinister; if they are, then I back them with the quality to come through it.
"We haven't been perfect and we have been a long way short in some games. But overall, I'd say the players have given their all."
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NUFC injury issues
Injuries are part and parcel of any club’s season, not just Newcastle’s. But the fact Yoane Wissa is yet to kick a ball for the club since his £55million summer signing has been a big problem as the DR Congo forward was brought in to help soften the blow of losing Alexander Isak.
The Magpies have also had problems at full-back with Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall struggling with injuries. Hall is now back available while Livramento is back training.
"It is a difficult one,” Howe said. “As much as I'd like to say don't judge us until everyone is back [fit], it is a football season, and there will always be players out injured.
"You have to judge us all the time and you are free to do that. We acknowledge that. There is no free pass. We have had players out injured before and we will again.
"It's part and parcel of football. We are a little bit unfortunate that we have lost players in groups.
"We lost both full-backs in terms of the younger full-backs and the attacking players of course which has limited our options."