Eddie Howe, Manager of Newcastle United, throws his bottle as he reacts to his team missing a chance during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Everton at St James' Park on February 28, 2026 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)placeholder image
Eddie Howe, Manager of Newcastle United, throws his bottle as he reacts to his team missing a chance during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Everton at St James' Park on February 28, 2026 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Newcastle United 2-3 Everton: Eddie Howe has had his say following his side’s latest defeat at St James’ Park.
Jarrad Branthwaite’s header was cancelled out by Jacob Ramsey in the first half before Everton went back in front through Beto moments later.
The Magpies pushed for an equaliser in the second half and it finally came through substitute Jacob Murphy with eight minutes of normal time remaining, only for Everton to go back in front a minute later through Thierno Barry.
The result leaves Newcastle sitting 12th in the Premier League table and 12 points off the top five with 10 games left to play.
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Eddie Howe frustrated after another defeat for Newcastle United
It’s also two clean sheets in 21 league games for Howe’s side as the Newcastle boss couldn’t defend his defence after Saturday’s match.
“Extremely frustrating,” he said. “We worked hard to get back into the game twice. Everton aren’t easy to score against, so chasing it took a lot out of us.
“Then we undo it with avoidable mistakes. The second one especially hurt us mentally.
“From the start of the second half up until our goal, we were dominant. But those lapses cost us.”
Beto’s goal to restore Everton’s lead in the first half came after goalkeeper Nick Pope spilt Dwight McNeil’s strike from distance.
Eddie Howe refuses to comment on Nick Pope after Everton defeat
But Howe wouldn’t be drawn into criticising his goalkeeper individually.
“I think it's difficult for me to comment on any one player or any one position,” Howe added. “Just collectively, we've got to defend our goal better. That's everyone across the board. That's me taking responsibility for that first. And then, of course, putting that down to the players.
“What’s strange is we started the season strong defensively by every metric. Clean sheets, hard to break down — it was all there.
“Then it flipped. It’s been building for a while. Today showed it again. We should have conceded fewer, but we didn’t. We’ve got to get our reliability back. That’s non-negotiable.
“There would be multi-factors behind everything that you see. Multi-factors behind why we conceded today after scoring. In terms of individual errors defensively, it's always a team thing. It's always interlinked.
“You can look at the person that makes a mistake, but then you've got to go back a bit further than that and go, why has that happened? What's the reason? Of course, team selection is key for me. That's my power that I have to make changes.
“We're limited defensively in terms of that area of the pitch with the injuries that we have. So a lot of that work will have to come from the training ground.”
Three league defeats in a row at St James’ Park for NUFC
It’s the first time Newcastle have lost three Premier League games in a row at St James’ Park since Howe took charge of the club in November 2021. The Magpies’ previously strong home record and supposed ‘fear factor’ at St James’ Park has gone missing recently.
“I think it would be foolish of me to say anything other than we've got to get our home form back on track,” Howe said.
“We're well aware of how much we enjoy playing here. Historically, under my management, we've loved it.
“We've embraced it. Every time we've come back here after a difficult result, there's a good feeling. This is probably the first time where serious question marks have been asked of our home performances.
“It's something that can't linger too long. We've got to grab it back. Our supporters are incredible. They give us so much. We've got to start giving them something back.”
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