Eddie Howe reacts to Pep Guardiola Sandro Tonali gesture - Newcastle United boss has only done it once
Pep Guardiola has made a habit of speaking to Newcastle United players following the full-time whistle in matches against Manchester City.
Whether it is Bruno Guimaraes or Sandro Tonali, Pep Guardiola has made a habit of speaking to Newcastle United’s star players following clashest with Manchester City.
Following Newcastle’s 3-1 defeat the Etihad Stadium in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg, Guardiola briefly spoke with Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn before making a line for Tonali.
He spoke with the Italian for a minute before going on to celebrate with his side after securing progress to the Carabao Cup final.
Pep Guardiola’s Sandro Tonali talk
When asked about his interaction with Tonali at the time, Guardiola said: “What did I say? My Italian is perfect, so that's why I can communicate with him. And we have an incredible friend in common from Brescia, Edoardo Piovani.
“And every time we are connected, I know his father some time ago and all the time we met we talked about his experience in Milan, the supporters, and how happy he is in Newcastle. He's a really, really top player, top, top, top player!”
Tonali has been linked with a move away from Newcastle in the summer and Guardiola interacting with him in such a manner has only helped fuel the speculation.
But Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe wasn’t reading too much into it.
When asked if the Man City head coach’s antics ‘annoy’ him, Howe said: “Erm… no I don’t think it annoys me. That’s something Pep does with lots of players, it’s not personal to us.
“He’s a football man and he has different relationships with different players. I really respect Pep, what he does, how he coaches. His teams have been fantastic for the PL and fantastic football really.
“I think he is a revolutionary and that’s [speaking to opposition players] is just part of his psychology. I don’t know what those conversations are about. I don’t spend any time investigating what they are about either.”
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Eddie Howe has only done it once
While Howe is not one to interact too much with opposition players after matches, there was one notable and understandable exception this season.
Following Newcastle’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at St James’ Park, Howe spent time arm in arm with Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson as the pair spoke for an extended period.
Anderson joined Nottingham Forest from Newcastle for £35million in 2024 in a reluctant sale forced upon the club in order for them to comply with PSR.
Ironically, Anderson is now a top transfer target for Manchester City this summer.
A big game for Newcastle United
The atmosphere on Saturday can’t be flat like it was in CC semi final? Saw the power of SJP against Man United?
“We need to harness that, we do. That game (cup semi final) the crowd react to us and I felt we were a bit flat. We’d played 120 minutes against Bournemouth a few days before and we weren’t in the place physically to be where we needed to be in that game.
“The crowd feel that. It’s our duty to set the tone and we did that against Manchester United with a really bright start and an energetic performance. We were positive in our outlook and trying to attack in the right way. The crowd then backed us right until the end and helped us get over the line in that game. We need a ferocious SJP on Saturday night but that’s going to come from our body language and our start to the game.”