31 December 2023 , 22:30
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Eddie Howe has vowed to ride the rollercoaster nature of being Newcastle boss - and says criticism "fuels" him to do a better job.
Howe is the latest manager to cope with the extreme conditions of bossing the Toon. The good times sees manager and players hailed as world beaters, but blips in form mean they are immediately under pressure as a one-club city searches for answers.
Howe insists the season is not a write off, with a tough January programme starting at Liverpool on New Year's Day - and a key FA Cup tie against Sunderland next weekend. They haven't beaten their big rivals in nine games, a run stretching back to August 2011.
Newcastle have lost eight of their last 12 games - six out of seven in the Premier League. But Howe says the team have been on the wrong side of fine margins in key games, and he’s not panicking despite them sliding to mid-table.
Howe is also not under pressure from the Toon owners. He said: "There is never a time not to stick together. The best teams have inner strength and team spirit to ride difficult moments, and successes. We acknowledge we need to improve and we will endeavour to.
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"One of my strengths - I have lots of weaknesses as we all have - but a strength is I can under pressure stay calm and see things for what they are. You are going to get bad results as a football manager, it is part of the job, and another part is to find ways to come back and to make your team better. We will endeavour to do that.
"I won’t necessarily be influenced by the results in a negative way, in terms of my only thought is to try and help the players produce better performances and that is what I focus on."
In several key games in the cup and league, Newcasle have fallen foul of last gasp moments which has tarnished their campaign. They could still be in Europe or a Carabao Cup semi-final. Howe said: "Yeah and that is part of what I say: not overreacting.
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"You have to see a game for what it is. You have to acknowledge we could have beaten Chelsea, we could have not conceded that penalty against Paris Saint-Germain and then the whole Champions League experience might have been different.
"We could have been 2-0 up on the stroke of half time against Forest, but we weren’t. You have to be careful not to judge yourself or your team against moments in a football match. You just hope over time you get those moments right. And that’s what we want."
The lessons Howe and his side have learned recently have been "painful". Backing from Amanda Staveley, who runs the club, will remain firm.
Asked about the recent criticism of him and the first after two years of upward movement, Howe said: "I don't look at it like I'm in the spotlight now. I'm always in the spotlight and criticism is part of this job. It goes hand in hand with it.
"Criticism? I block it out but of course, you know the narrative. I'm not stupid, you know the questions being asked and I think that does fuel me, of course it does, I'm a human being and I want to do a good job for supporters."