Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe feels that he has a squad capable of plotting their way back to the top four
Eddie Howe feels that the answers “lie within” at Newcastle United rather than an all out splurge on transfers in January.
The Magpies will only go into the transfer market – on Howe’s own words – if that it will “benefit” the current group of players. As Newcastle’s travel-weary players trudged off the pitch after the 3-1 loss to Nottingham Forest, they looked like a team in need of a lift.
When asked whether he felt the answers can be solved with the players he already has, Howe said: “My gut feeling is the answer always lies within. The people and the players we have here, I think we’re good enough.
“Of course, we’ve suffered the injuries that we have and those players now that you see aren’t available here – I don’t think there’s anyone coming back within the next few days, so it’s really good that we had Joelinton return today, he’s been a massive miss for us, and we’ve still got players that are finding their fitness from playing matches, which is never ideal, and there were several players on the pitch today in that respect.”
Howe was further pressed on recruitment and changes for next year, and reflected: “All options are open to us at all times. But I think you’ve got make a change that you feel benefits the team.
“I’ll be prepared to make any change that I think can benefit either the performance or the result and of course players are accountable for what they deliver. No amount of credit in the bank is big enough, you have to earn everything you get from the game. I’m a firm believer in that so players know they have to perform and we have to change our short-term form for sure.”
“We’ve not had it easy and I think that needs to be acknowledged by me more than anybody else in my reflection of the team.”
