Eddie Howe reveals why Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes was left out of his starting XI

Eddie Howe has revealed why he left Bruno Guimaraes out of his starting XI.
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Newcastle United were yesterday beaten 5-1 by Tottenham Hotspur. The result left the club 15th in the Premier League ahead of a run of three home games.

Guimaraes – who scored for Brazil last week – came off the bench with Howe’s side trailing 3-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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Howe had started with a three-man midfield of Jonjo Shelvey, Joelinton and Joe Willock. Shelvey was recalled to the starting XI after missing two games through illness.

Asked about the decision to name the midfielder on the bench, head coach Howe said: “I thought it was a difficult game to come into, because, at that moment, we were still chasing the game.

"I don’t think we chased it (the game) very well, we were efficient in what we were doing, so I thought it was a difficult game to come into. The rhythm of our game had gone.

"I didn’t select him to start with, because I wanted to revert to to the midfield which had served us so well with the nine-game unbeaten run, and that fact he hadn’t been training with us and wasn’t able to prepare in the same way as the other players had, so there was a couple of different angles to look at it.”

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Newcastle had taken the lead through a first-half Fabian Schar free-kick, but Ben Davies levelled before the interval.

Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes came off the bench against Tottenham Hotspur.Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes came off the bench against Tottenham Hotspur.
Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes came off the bench against Tottenham Hotspur.

“First half, I thought we did very well,” said Howe. “I was hugely disappointed to go in 1-1.

“The key goal is the second goal. The manner of it was really disappointing. Then we chased the game in a very aggressive way, and played in a way we probably shouldn’t have done. We played in an expansive way too early in the game, and were punished by a top-level team.

“We were taking risks in areas that we shouldn’t have done. We committed too many men forward.

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“I’m being careful to not go too over the top with my criticism. But we need to be smarter. It was in our desire to get back into the game.”

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