Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe(Image: Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has told his players that they must "critique" themselves amid one of the biggest slumps of his stint as head coach.
The ex-AFC Bournemouth manager goes in against his former club slumped in 14th place in the Premier League table. Victory is a must, but defeat could see Leeds close the gap behind them to just three points in a season in which the Yorkshire club have been threatened by the drop all term.
Howe made no excuses for the horror slide down the table as Newcastle find themselves in danger of going from the top five to the bottom five in the last 12 months.
It's worth noting that United got to game 36 last year still in with a shot of the runners-up spot so the decline is there for all to see.
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Howe said: "It's been a difficult period, of course, with results, and it's not where you want to live in my job - you want to live in the world of winning games, and the pitfalls that come with that are complacency.
"You want to really keep standards high to keep that feeling of winning and that momentum going.
"But this is a different moment. This is a moment where we have to critique ourselves honestly. There are some harsh words in terms of, 'our performance levels haven't been good enough', but at the same time, you have to protect confidence levels, you have to protect players' ability to go onto the pitch and execute what they need to, really, so it's a delicate balancing act.
"And also stay very level and calm, because you have to put things in perspective.
"A couple of games ago we were playing Barcelona in the Champions League, and if you react to distorted reality, you think that we can't play football again. You've got to keep that level head, believe in ourselves and go again."
A much-needed win against Bournemouth would take them above the Cherries on goal difference potentially and set up a tilt at a Europa Conference League place in the run-in.
Howe said today: "The future's always the most important (thing). That's always how I look at it regardless of what's happened historically.
"Six games to finish the season on a really strong footing and a strong note is what we all have to do. We're all determined to try and do it.
"The training ground's had a different feeling this week, but that is really positive in the sense that we're really focused."
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