Eddie Howe – This has been a unique season


 
 
 
 
 
 

Eddie Howe and his team take on Arsenal tonight.

The NUFC head Coach hoping to make it six games in a row unbeaten, plus even the possibility of five away victories in a row.

Eddie Howe talking ahead of tonight’s match and he says that with so many factors, especially injuries, going against Newcastle United this season, one thing for him stands out – ‘We haven’t been perfect, but the key characteristic, the mentality, has been very good.’

The NUFC boss describing this as a ‘unique’ season…

Eddie Howe talking to TNT Sports and asked about the number of goals Newcastle United are conceding, at the same time as scoring even more:

“I think as long as you’re getting positive results, I’ll take it.

“Of course, from a defensive perspective, we want to do better.

“We pride ourselves on putting a lot of work into that area of the game. So that’s certainly something for us to improve so I think there’s always two sides to look at it.

“We’re always working on every aspect of the game, whatever phase of defending that is.

“Going to Arsenal we’re going to need to be very good defensively, because of the season that they’ve had. They’re very good in attacking play.

“Every game in the Premier League brings a new challenge, this is going to be a tough one.“

“We’ve still got that quality we had last year where we never know when we’re beaten, we never give up, we always go until the end.

“I think that’s the hallmark of the character of the players we’ve got.

“We’ve got ourselves into some tricky situations in the last few weeks but the response has always been there and that has been so important.

“If you look at results against Luton and Bournemouth, they weren’t what we wanted them to be but they were important points because we backed it up with an away win at Nottingham Forest.

“I think it’s been a unique season in many different ways. Injuries have been a part of that. I think it’s really cost us and hurt at times because we haven’t had a full team to pick from, a balanced bench, It’s been very difficult. We’ve missed some key players, some big characters.

“I think what we’ve tried to do is not use that as too much of an excuse or dwell on it too much with the players.

“Sometimes there’s not anything you can do about the situation you’re in and you’ve just got to make the best of the situation we’re in, and that’s what we’ve tried to do.

“I have to compliment the players who have been fit, who have played the games, because they’ve got their heads down, they’ve given their all.

“We haven’t been perfect, but the key characteristic, the mentality, has been very good.”