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Eddie Howe was questioned about two changes he made to his Newcastle United side for Saturday’s 4-2 defeat at Brentford.
Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon dropped to the bench despite impressive displays during the 3-3 draw against Liverpool in midweek. Howe suggested before the game that both players were fatigued ahead of the trip to the Gtech Community Stadium.
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Harvey Barnes scored on his return to the side to draw Newcastle level at 2-2 heading in at half-time after Alexander Isak had initially cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo’s opener.
Gordon and Tonali came on with half an hour to play but couldn’t help Newcastle get back into the game again as they fell to a 4-2 defeat. It’s now four games without a win for Howe’s side.
The Newcastle boss suggested he would have liked to have made more changes to his side after the Liverpool game due to fitness reasons with Gordon and Tonali the most impacted.
“I think today was a difficult game to come on to because of the conditions and trying to pick up the speed of the game, naturally, you're going to be cold,” Howe said on the impact of Gordon and Tonali. “I thought Anthony looked good when he came on, I've got no issue with his performance.
“Midfield was an area where we weren't as strong in the second half. We had some tired bodies and couldn't change everybody. The Liverpool game took a lot out of us and I would have liked to rotate a little more but due to loads of different reasons, I didn't feel like I was able to do that because of the fitness of some of the players on the bench not being up to the level needed to start a Premier League game.”
Joe Willock missed the match due to a hamstring problem but is understood to have a chance of being back involved against Leicester City next Saturday at St James’ Park (3pm kick-off). The Magpies head into that game looking to end a run of four games without a win in the Premier League, taking just 10 points from their last 11 league games.
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