Eddie Howe says Newcastle United missed Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Lewis Miley against Sunderland – which, while true, ignores quite the elephant in the room.
Once again, Newcastle United were absolutely dreadful against Sunderland and were well beaten at St James’ Park.
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Quotes from Eddie Howe on Newcastle United losing Alexander Isak. It reads: "Losing Alex was a considerable blow for us."
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Despite taking the lead, Newcastle threw the game away against their bitter rivals to leave Howe under major pressure.
Speaking after the game, he lamented the absence of his midfield trio.
Eddie Howe reacts during the Premier League game between Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Howe says Newcastle missed Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Lewis Miley
The Newcastle United manager said: “I thought our technical delivery was off today.
“I thought we missed our midfielders that would give us that control and that technical delivery – Bruno, Lewy Miley and Sandro – missing all three of those players left us slightly unbalanced.”
Guimaraes is still recovering from a hamstring injury, while Tonali missed out due to the groin issue he sustained during the defeat to Barcelona earlier this week. Miley, meanwhile, has recently been ruled out with a muscle problem.
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A graphic asking Newcastle United fans to prove the statement: "It is time for Eddie Howe to leave Newcastle United."
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Now, any team in the world will likely miss three of their best midfielders. That much is obvious, no matter how deep their squad is.
Why Howe is wrong about Guimaraes, Miley and Tonali
Clearly, after a defeat such as Sunday’s, no one wants to hear any excuses.
In Howe’s defence, he wasn’t really doing that. He fronted up and urged supporters to blame him for such a dreadful display rather than his players.
Still, it is worth mentioning that a midfield of Guimaraes, Tonali and Miley is exactly how Newcastle lined up for their trip to Sunderland back in December, another game in which they were soundly beaten.
Frankly, there has rarely been a midfield combination at Newcastle that has worked for any great deal of time this season.
Such have been their struggles to control games, whatever Howe does in the engine room hasn’t really worked at all.
That’s not to say that Newcastle didn’t miss those players, just that there’s no guarantee they’d have had the control Howe is talking about even if they did play.
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