Newcastle face Bayer Leverkusen tomorrow but the Sunderland game is in the back of people’s minds
Newcastle Untied head coach Eddie Howe(Image: Richard Lee/Shutterstock)
Eddie Howe says he refused to entertain the idea of resting key players for the clash with Bayer Leverkusen or leaving key stars at home with Wearside in mind.
Instead, Howe argued that the best way to keep his team fit and firing for Sunderland was by getting them on the pitch in the Champions League. The head coach said that anybody comparing the current situation with the ill-fated Europa League ties in 2013, which almost saw Newcastle relegated, should move on and “draw a line” through the history books.
Although Alan Pardew will vouch that putting all his eggs in the European basket cost him dear as the Magpies crashed to a horrendous 3-0 home defeat to Sunderland that year.
Howe, speaking at this pre-match Press conference in Germany ahead of the clash with Bayer Leverkusen, was reminded of Pardew’s big gamble that failed, but told Chronicle Live: “That puts a line through that one! It didn’t work.
“We don’t have enough players currently to do that anyway, so we bring our whole squad who are fit. That would be my train of thought anyway.
“The best thing to keep players fit and fresh is to keep playing football. Unless rest is specifically designed for the individual, I don’t think rest at this stage of the season is productive.
“Even if we do rotate players, they are still part of the group, and a 20-30 minute cameo can do them the world of good and can freshen them up. We are here and we are full strength.”
Despite having the derby looming large at the Stadium of Light, Howe was locked into European mode and is more concerned about getting a last 16 place as long as he is on German soil.
Howe said: “I am relatively pleased with our Champions League performance. In the two defeats, we have not come away with what we deserved. Leverkusen are an outstanding team, true to their identity, so this will be a tough game.
“However we get through, the knock-out phase is the target. It would be preferable to go through without a play-off, but the teams we have to face are in good form.”
Howe said that he has a relatively clean bill of health going into the clash at the BayArena with Lewis Hall only rested against Burnley because of an illness. Injuries to the likes of Kieran Trippier, Emil Krafth, Sven Botman and Nick Pope have depleted the squad in recent games.
Howe went on: “We don’t have the depth at the moment we would really want. Lewis was ill before the game on Saturday so we didn’t want to push him too hard but were pleased with the 30 minutes he gave us.”
When asked if he would pick a team with Sunderland in mind, Howe said: “No, not necessarily. We will pick a team that will be strong tomorrow and strong for Sunday. We have a few injuries to our backline which is an area of concern for us.”
Howe suggested that Yoane Wissa, who enjoyed a 15-minute cameo, will also get more minutes in Germany. But a lack of training time behind the scenes is holding him back.
He said: “Our challenge now is we have limited training time for Wissa. We have to get the balancing act but he showed his qualities in that 20 minutes and he will only get better.”
