Newcastle United hungry for goals and success, says Eddie Howe after 8-0 win
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Newcastle United's Sean Longstaff celebrates scoring their first goal with Anthony Gordon in Sheffield, Britain, on Sept 24.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON – Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe said Sunday’s 8-0 thrashing of Sheffield United in the English Premier League showed his team’s motivation and mentality are spot on, though he still saw some room for improvement in their performance.
Sean Longstaff put the Magpies ahead on 21 minutes and they were 7-0 up with 17 minutes remaining, with substitute Alexander Isak completing the rout in the 87th minute for the visitors, who were coming into the game after a tough 0-0 draw at AC Milan in the Champions League.
Dan Burn, Sven Botman, Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon, Miguel Almiron and Bruno Guimaraes were the other scorers, as Newcastle became the first team in Premier League history to have eight different scorers in one game and it was their biggest away win in the league. It also matched their record league victory, an 8-0 hammering of Sheffield Wednesday in 1999.
“It was very good. I don’t know whether it was the complete performance. We are always looking to find things to improve... I’m delighted with the players,” Howe said.
“We started really well and got the goal early. That settled us down and we played some really good football after that. It shows you that the players were very motivated for the game. They were hungry for goals and for success.
“I do think we’ve got a really motivated group. I see really good character traits through the whole squad. It’s a long season for us. We’ve got a lot of challenges to come but certainly the last week has been a return to form for us.”
Newcastle, who finished fourth last season, are eighth on nine points after six games in the current campaign, nine points behind leaders Manchester City.
The Blades, meanwhile, are rooted to the bottom of the table with just one point from six matches.
Said captain John Egan: “I can’t say anything positive. We have to learn fast and get a lot better.”
Former Newcastle and England forward Les Ferdinand said Egan’s team failed to “compete”.
He told Sky Sports: “Lack of quality you can deal with but, for a large part of that game, Sheffield United didn’t compete with Newcastle. They are struggling badly.”
But the Blades’ under-fire manager Paul Heckingbottom insisted the club’s season will not be defined by this result.
He told Sky Sports: “We understand the league we are in. We’ve lost three points regardless but as long as we learn from the nature of the defeat and what went wrong, then all we have lost is three points.
“You could see moments when Newcastle outfought us and outran us. That is not acceptable. We want to compete. There is still a level of competition we expect. We know they have top-class players but there is an expectation from us that we are here to compete...
“Our season won’t be defined by this game, so long as we take the things from it we need to and address things.” REUTERS
