Speaking on the BBC Radio Five Live Football Daily Podcast, Chris Sutton has been speaking about Newcastle United and their appointment of Eddie Howe.
Newcastle’s new owners haven’t wasted much time in terms of making changes at St James’ Park. Steve Bruce left the club promptly after their arrival and now they have a new gaffer.
Howe is certainly an interesting appointment. After all, he worked miracles at Bournemouth, but Sutton isn’t sure that he’ll be able to instil his favoured style of play at Newcastle.
What’s been said?
Sutton questioned whether or not Newcastle’s squad were up to playing in Howe’s style.
“He’s got one hell of a job on. January is going to be key. Look at his managerial record, the way his team played at Bournemouth, I thought they were a breath of fresh air, but it will be interesting to see the brand of football Newcastle play under Eddie, especially early on, because, do Newcastle have the players where they can play an expansive game? I’m not so sure they do,” Sutton said.
Harsh
Sutton is doing Newcastle’s squad a real disservice here.
We’d understand such a comment if it was someone like Maurizio Sarri or Pep Guardiola coming in, but this is Eddie Howe.
Let’s not forget, when Bournemouth first came up, they were the masters of the smash and grab. They had the likes of Andrew Surman, Steve Cook and Marc Pugh starting on a weekly basis, while Glenn Murray was one of their main goalscoring outlets – they weren’t exactly prime Barcelona.
Add into that the fact that Ryan Fraser, Callum Wilson and Matt Ritchie have all actually worked under Howe before and it seems bizarre to suggest that Newcastle’s squad won’t be able to adapt to this style.
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