Struggling massively with an extended injury list all season that doesn’t look to be improving heading into the new year, Eddie Howe has given an injury update on some of his Newcastle players in the aftermath of their calamitous defeat to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
In his post-match interview, Howe candidly revealed that he doesn’t at all expect any players to return to the team imminently and that he believes they need not look elsewhere to turning around their form as the answer already lies within the squad itself.
Dismal defeats to Luton and Nottingham Forest in the last two games are making it look like retaining the same team and the same style for the next fixtures against Liverpool and Manchester City would most likely result in the same negative outcome.
In his interview, Howe said: “My gut feeling is the answer always lies within. The players and people we have here are good enough. The injuries we’ve suffered, I don’t think anyone is coming back in the next few days. We still have players who are finding their fitness from other matches. We’ve not had it easy, and I think that needs to be acknowledged by me more than anything else.”
Questions have invariably and unavoidably been raised about both the squad and the manager after suffering six defeats in the last seven across all competitions, sparking conversations about who the club need to sign in January.
Howe however is digging his heels in, believing that the answer to turning the form around already lies within the squad and suggests that Newcastle don’t need to do any serious transfer business to start climbing the Premier League table once again.
Obviously t his doesn’t in any way imply that Newcastle aren’t going to sign anybody next month, although it certainly sounds like Howe is preparing for a difficult month in which the club are limited to what they can do.