Twenty-four hours after the mood killer at the Villa, Eddie Howe could be found clearing his head on a windswept playing field in the Northumberland village of Ponteland.
Howe is, by his own admission, an intense manager and a borderline obsessive when it comes to the challenge presented at Newcastle.
His release valves revolve around simple pleasures: taking his dog for a walk, his daily jog or watching his young sons Rocky and Harry playing for their junior team, blending in with the rest of the eager parents.
“I don’t know whether I took too much from it tactically but it was nice to be out,” he said with typical understatement on Friday. “I really have very few things to relax me because in my job you’re always switched on.”
By Sunday morning, of course, Howe had already watched and re-watched last weekend’s sobering defeat by Aston Villa, his team’s worst display of the season that preceded a frank and honest inquest in the Villa Park changing room from the simmering manager afterwards.
Newcastle have constructed a platform for a top-four challenge based on the mantra that intensity is their identity but in-form Villa swiped their clothes in a sobering 3-0 defeat.
It was an early warning that there is not yet enough quality in this side to survive an off day or for individuals not to perform. They are far from home and hosed in the top-four race.
Drained of the anger of defeat, Howe found positives to work with from his video analysis. The display was not quite as bad as he’d remembered and the foundation of this week’s plan to defeat Spurs came from those video viewing. By Monday there was a fresh perspective.
“I was still in a terrible mood,” he said, a smile breaking across his face. “But I tried to hide it.”
Training this week has been sharp, the players showing few signs of pressure despite the stakes on offer. Their week has been underpinned by Howe’s “core sessions” on team shape but he has freshened up some of the preparation.
It seems to have worked. “I’ve seen no hangover from the Villa game, I’ve seen no negative emotional reaction,” he insists.
He has tried different things to “stimulate and energise” the group, pulling emotional or motivational levers with the group. In previous weeks there have been visits from former players like Nobby Solano or Alan Shearer to talk about the significance and potential of the club they represent.
This week the club invited Mark Taylor, a local non-league footballer who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease a decade ago, to the club to watch training along with his friends and family. The bravery with which he has fought his condition is inspirational.
“It was an amazing thing, we invited him and it was great to experience him and his family coming to see us. It was very emotional actually. I thought the players were fantastic with him and his family,” Howe said.
A return to St James’ Park offers the chance to tap into the energy of a public that has sold out every game this season. There will be a return for Sean Longstaff in midfield – “A more intelligent footballer than he gets credit for” was Howe’s assessment – but there are dilemmas in midfield and defence.
January signing Anthony Gordon struggled at Villa on the left of midfield but natural replacement Allan Saint-Maximin continues to rehab a hamstring injury in France so is not available. Pushing Joelinton to the left and Gordon to the right, where he is more comfortable, would make sense.
Newcastle can take a significant if not decisive step towards the top four with victory over an ailing Spurs, whose instability this season is in stark contrast to the environment Howe is working in.
The rapid progress made under contentious Saudi ownership is only partly down to the resources that have enabled them to recruit some of Europe’s best young talent. Those on the ground in the North East have been true to their word that their plans would be methodical, smart and with a focus on sustained improvement.
While Spurs begin their search for a new Sporting Director, Dan Ashworth approaches his first anniversary in charge at St James’ Park. The pace of change, according to those inside the club, is “astonishing”.
“I would say we have been stable and very well run from above,” Howe said, having declined the invitation to contrast Newcastle’s situation with Tottenham’s.
“There has been a clarity in terms of what we can and can’t do. There has been a vision.
“The hard bit is to try and carry all of that out day to day. But that stability and trust has enabled us to be successful. It’s rare to have that stability at a Premier League club because the pressure you are working under is so high. Hopefully that can remain for as long as possible.”
It was Spurs who were the opponents in the first game after Newcastle’s takeover, 17 months ago and a 3-2 win belied the gulf between two teams competing at opposite ends of the table. The gap has been bridged swiftly but only if they can steal Tottenham’s prized top four place will it feel like an achievement worth celebrating.
“It is a big moment in the season,” Howe said, abandoning his usual caution. A chance, too, to send a message to the rest of the Premier League’s established order.
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