Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe admits that “patience” could be the watchword in the home clash against Nottingham Forest.
But the Toon boss has thrown down the gauntlet to his players give the crowd something to feed off after back to back home defeats in the Premier League at St James’ Park. The defeats to AFC Bournemouth and Fulham have thrown a spanner in the works for the Magpies and their Champions League ambitions.
Forest also head to Newcastle on the back of a defeat, after losing 2-1 at Fulham last weekend, but Howe knows that his team must stay open minded regardless of how the game unfolds. Speaking at his Press conference today Howe told Chronicle Live: “Patience is important at home. You never know how the game is going to go.
“You never know what position we are going to be in. We’d love to think positive and that we can really attack the game and express ourselves in a really good way.
“But we may have to be adaptable. If that is the case, we will have to do that, and patience could be key for us.”
Howe emphasised the importance of the backing from the Toon supporters in this crunch fixture. Many of them were left disappointed by the heavy defeat at Man City.
Speaking about the crowd, Howe said: “It is a two way thing, if we can get the crowd in the game it transforms the feeling. And a lot of time, the players are playing with feelings and feeling of the stadium and their own emotion. We have to make that as positive as we can.”
Howe also insists his players have his full backing despite substituting big names like Bruno Guimaraes, Kieran Trippier and Anthony Gordon last weekend after below par displays.
He said: “I don’t doubt the players’ character. We have got a brilliant group of people who want success. We are not perfect, we have got a very small squad, we have got challenges but never shied away from the fact I really believe in the players we have.”
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