Kieran Trippier has a saying: pressure is a privilege. Newcastle United are about to put that to the test.
They have spent 170 of the last 197 days in the top four and looked – for the most part – entirely comfortable in such rarefied air. But with a revived Liverpool breathing down their neck there is suddenly no margin for error in a run-in that looks packed with intrigue.
“I don’t doubt the quality and character of the players,” Eddie Howe said emphatically on Sunday night. He sounded like he absolutely meant it.
The Newcastle manager is not a man who is prone to grandstanding statements but saw enough in the triumphant reaction of his opposite number Mikel Arteta and his players at full-time of the defeat to Arsenal to support his belief that the Magpies are now “an elite team” with a mentality to match.
Given the journey the club intend to go on, they have made a point of building a team to cope with pressure of super-sized expectations. They have bought well but a senior source at the club believes that Newcastle have also reaped the benefits of their manager’s meticulous approach to squad building.
“When other teams saw we had money they assumed we’d just want the best players money could buy but that was never the case. Personality checks were just as important as blank cheques,” they said.
“We hope this is when that starts to pay off.”
No-one at Newcastle thinks nerves will be a factor, not when a trusted leadership group has patrolled the dressing room mood so effectively this season.
As he does every week Howe will check in with Trippier – the lieutenant of the club’s senior leadership group – to make sure there are no issues he needs to be aware of. He will keep it “upbeat and positive”, stressing how well Arsenal had to play to beat them.
His ten-strong video and analysis team will chop up the game and point out that there is no cause for alarm at the manner of the loss. A point will be made about Arteta’s post-match admission that Arsenal needed to post their “best performance of the season” to leave St James’ Park with all three points. “Knowing Eddie he will use it to show how far we’ve come,” a source told i.
After all the fundamentals that have given them a platform to make the top four were all there. Newcastle had endeavour and enterprise, created opportunities and were in the contest throughout. Howe will repeat to his squad that they lost the game, not their nerve.
If there was a cause for concern it was in the understated performance of midfield general Bruno Guimaraes. A simple explanation might be that a player who was part of Brazil’s World Cup squad is understandably fatigued while also nursing an ankle niggle that probably needs rest he isn’t going to get.
A more troubling conclusion is that the Magpies missed Sean Longstaff, a player whose energy and discipline is greatly appreciated by Howe. His spark brings the best out of others, like Guimaraes, who have more talent.
They felt he would be missing for days but a scan slated for Tuesday may reveal a season-ending problem. Newcastle would not have the same balance if he was forced to sit it out.
“We were missing that X factor and we hope against Leeds we bring it back together because we have a tough run of fixtures and need some results to get over the line,” Howe said on Sunday.
“That is often the hardest part.”
TOP FOUR CONTENDERS
Newcastle
Leeds (a) 13 May; Brighton (h) 18 May; Leicester (h) 22 May; Chelsea (a) 28 May
Biggest strength: Their mentality – when they need to win they invariably have
Biggest weakness: Bruno Guimaraes’ fatigued performance was a worry – if Newcastle dip anywhere below their absolute best they are vulnerable
Manchester United
Wolves (h) 13 May; Bournemouth (a) 20 May; Chelsea (h) 25 May; Fulham (h) 28 May
Biggest strength: Their game in hand is golden and in Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro have the sort of quality that usually forces the issue
Biggest weakness: David De Gea? His individual errors sum up United’s nerviness
Liverpool
Leicester (a) 15 May; Aston Villa (h) 20 May; Southampton (a) 28 May
Biggest strength: Momentum, a new-found defensive sturdiness and the easiest run-in of the three give the Reds real hope
Biggest weakness: They are coming from a long way back and have no margin for error. For all the improvement, they still don’t look like Klopp’s irresistibles of a year ago
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/5pLZHSy
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