Eddie Howe has commended his team’s ‘brave performance’ in a defeat to Chelsea, suggesting it was a ‘high level game’ that was decided by moments before offering an update on Anthony Gordon’s fitness.
Newcastle were let down at both ends of the pitch at Stamford Bridge. We started slowly and were soon punished, Nick Pope should’ve done better for Chelsea’s second goal and Alexander Isak missed a golden opportunity to level things up.
Despite that, Howe remained upbeat as ever about our performance and claimed that we showed what an ‘attacking force’ we can be for Isak’s well-worked goal. While I admire Howe’s positivity, I’m not sure many Toon fans came away with such a ‘glass half full’ view on what was another disappointing defeat and concerning display.
Gordon missed the match with a groin issue that he picked up in training on Saturday and although Howe hopes it “not serious”, he’s set to have a scan today to determine the damage.
On the game, Howe said: “The attitude of the players is very good. We dug deep here. We scored a really good goal and proof that we are that attacking force we can be. Sometimes you go through phases like this, we are going through a difficult phase in terms of results.
“I thought it was a really high level game. I thought it was two really good teams. I thought it was a brave performance by us but the game was decided by a couple of moments.”
On Gordon, he added: “He felt his groin yesterday in training. We hope it’s not serious but he’ll go for a scan probably tomorrow.”
It’s probably Howe’s lowest moment as Newcastle manager having picked up just one point from our last three games, putting a lot of pressure on Wednesday’s cup tie against Chelsea.
Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2024/10/28/howe-issues-odd-assessment-of-chelsea-defeat-and-issues-gordon-update/
Author : Andrew Reynolds
Publish date : 2024-10-28 07:10:52
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