Eddie Howe has urged his players to not overthink tonight’s 2-0 aggregate lead over Arsenal will tell his Toon stars to: “Be yourselves”.
The Newcastle United head coach pulled off one of his greatest ever victories in the dugout when beating the Gunners 2-0 but knows that it will count for nothing if the Magpies don’t follow it up this evening. The good news for Newcastle is that they have managed to find an early goal five times in recent games and an early strike would almost certainly push the tie beyond Arsenal’s reach.
Howe told Chronicle Live: “We have had mixed success this season in terms of our starts to games. I think we have had some very good starts in our recent run of wins. I thought we’d started games really, really well and were back to the levels in our Champions League season. Yes, a couple of times this season we have been frustrating and haven’t started the game in the right way.
“The start to this game is going to be really, really important as it is to any game. We need to set the right intention, we need to set the right body language for everybody to connect with those coming to watch us. I think if we can do that with the qualities we have that will help us a lot.”
It has been suggested by some observers that 2-0 is a dangerous lead. But there have been 32 occasions when a side losing the first leg of a League Cup semi-final by two or more goals have managed to come back from the dead. That was in 1993/94 when Tranmere surrendered a 3-1 fist leg lead to lose 3-1 at Aston Villa before losing on penalities.
The head coach added: “The 2-0 scoreline in itself, would we want to be in this position? Yes. Is it a dangerous scoreline? Well, it’s only dangerous if you don’t perform. So for me, the message is we have to perform. We have to be ourselves, and we have to be all the good things about Newcastle when we’re playing well. That’s the challenge. And I think if we are, then hopefully everything else takes care of itself. So focusing too much on the scoreline and the dynamics of that, I don’t think it’s healthy for the brain. So just think a clear head. Let’s attack the game in our way.”
Early Newcastle goals in recent games
- Tonali vs Brentford (Carabao Cup) 9 mins
- Alexander Isak vs Ipswich 1 min
- Anthony Gordon vs Villa 2 mins
- Alexander Isak vs Man United 4 mins
- Anthony Gordon vs Spurs 6 mins
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/eddie-howe-delivers-final-message-30938458
