Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe's 'surprise' approach to half-time team talk against Brentford

Howe’s side trailed 1-0 at the Gtech Community Stadium after a poor first-half performance. United’s head coach sent on Callum Wilson and Anthony Gordon for the second half – and they helped spark a comeback.

Joelinton and Alexander Isak scored to give third-placed Newcastle a 2-1 win.

Isak revealed after the game that Howe hadn't raked over the team's first-team mistakes during the interval. Instead, Howe – who had admitted to getting “angry during Wednesday night’s 5-1 win over West Ham United – focused on what they could do differently after the restart.

And Howe, for his part, felt that an angry reaction to the first 45 minutes would not have helped his team.

“Surprisingly, I wasn’t (angry), actually,” said United’s head coach. “I was angry at half-time, as you know, against West Ham because we discussed that.

"But here, I was more focused on what we could do to try to change the second half of the game. I felt that losing my temper or being angry in that situation would only have negative connotations for the team.

"I thought giving a commentary on what had happened would only be negative as well. It was a case of saying ‘this is what we have to do to get back into the game’.”

Howe wanted more of a “focal point” for his team in the second half. Isak combined well up front with Wilson, who had a goal disallowed for a handball.

"We changed things tactically,” said Howe. “Sometimes that can give you a lift in itself. We knew we were desperate for the result – and threw caution to the wind a little bit.

"The players responded well physically, even though we were a little bit fatigued from the week we have had. That’s down to the characters we have.”

On Wilson’s handball, Howe added: “I thought the handball on Callum was also harsh, but that’s just my opinion.”

Third-placed Newcastle, pushing for Champions League football next season, are three points ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a game in hand ahead of Saturday’s game away to Aston Villa.