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9 months ago
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You might have heard that there have been a ‘few’ Newcastle United injuries this season.
It has been an absolutely unprecedented situation, the sheer number of players unavailable at any one time.
Regularly, Eddie Howe finding close to half his first team unavailable for pretty much any match these last four months or so, with the starting eleven invariably picking itself.
Never in a million years did anybody think that Eddie Howe and Newcastle United would be relying on a 17 year old in midfield to play week in week out (and midweek in midweek out!) in the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.
As well as Sandro Tonali missing the rest of this season due to a gambling ban, Eddie Howe has seen freak back injuries rule both Elliot Anderson and Dan Burn out long-term, the same with dislocated shoulder pair Jacob Murphy and Nick Pope, as well as freak injuries hitting both Harvey Barnes and Matt Targett early in matches with no opponent close to them.
However, Eddie Howe hasn’t brushed off the number of Newcastle United injuries, including the many others which maybe some feel could have been preventable, if handled differently.
Eddie Howe giving the official club response and making clear that he and everybody else at Newcastle United, accept that they need to always look at what could be done differently / better, potentially.
Eddie Howe giving an official response and overview on how he sees the situation regarding the record number of injuries this season for Newcastle United – 9 February 2024:
“It is not just the number of injuries we have had… but the length of time those players have been out for.
“We went into this season with a squad built to cope with all the demands we would face, the competitions we would play in.
“But certainly, we have made mistakes, certainly we could do things better.
“You can handle one or two long-term injuries but it has been three or four months. For five, or six, or seven, or eight players.
“There has been no light at the end of the tunnel and then your squad is stretched…
“And then you get more injuries!
“It has been one of those seasons when you feel everything has gone against us.
“Of course, when you have the number of injuries we have had, some of those have come from too much load, or maybe our programmes are not good enough in the gym.
“The players do a lot of work.
“They don’t just go out on the training pitch.
“They also do a lot of gym work, a lot of different things.
“If we are sitting here going ‘we have not made any mistakes’ then I think we are being fools.
“So of course we analyse everything.
“When I say ‘we’, I include everybody at the football club.
“It is not about one individual or department, we are all in it together and of course we have to respond [to how many injuries there have been].
“We have to improve what we deliver for the players.
“Football never stands still and demands are only going to go up physically.
“The Premier League is a lot quicker league than it was last year.
“The physical demands are greater.
“So your strategies and how you treat the players behind the scenes, have to improve.
“We are reviewing every one [injury] we get, trying to find a reason why?
“Some are freaks, but there are some, usually muscle pulls, where you’re going… ‘Is there a way we could have avoided that?”

 
