DORTMUND — If Newcastle United‘s walking wounded can tear down Borussia Dortmund’s yellow wall on Tuesday, it might just rank as the greatest achievement of Eddie Howe‘s two years in charge.
His Newcastle side might be in impressive form but they are resolutely not in rude health.
Confirmation that defensive talisman Dan Burn will be out until the New Year after injuring his spine – a “huge blow”, according to Howe – adds to an injury list that should be something approaching terminal for their aspirations to balance a top-four charge with going deep in both the Carabao Cup and Champions League.
Burn’s freak injury means he is the latest long-term absentee from a list that includes defender Sven Botman, winger Harvey Barnes, forward Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy. With Sandro Tonali suspended until next season, Howe is without £230m of talent.
While Erik ten Hag and Manchester United flounder without their expensive absentees, Howe continues to coax improvement from his understudies.
No Botman? Skipper Jamaal Lascelles has stepped into the void instead, benefiting from a coaching team who have worked hard on addressing the concentration and ball-playing issues that previous coaches felt were holding him back.
It is the same story with Sean Longstaff and Anthony Gordon – who must both be in with a shout of graduating to Gareth Southgate’s England squad. The latter, in particular, is finally fulfilling the promise that made him one of the most coveted forwards in the English game 18 months ago.
While Ten Hag is struggling to imprint an identity on his squad, Howe has worked tirelessly on the culture at Newcastle. It is moments like this – when summoning players who have been out in the cold for weeks of months – that it pays dividends.
“Togetherness” was what Fabian Schar called it on Monday when he was asked about the secret to Newcastle’s threadbare squad continuing to make progress. And he is typical of the sort of strides that Newcastle have made under Howe.
Because for all that Saudi money has turbo-charged Newcastle’s progress, the foundations have been the sort of improvement Howe and his coaching staff have coaxed from players derided under previous coaches.
Schar was one of those who was engaged in annual relegation battles under Rafa Benitez and Steve Bruce. On Tuesday he knows they can take a major stride towards the Champions League knockout stages if they pull a result out of the bag against Borussia Dortmund.
“We’ve been on a brilliant journey, everyone stepped up,” he said. “The togetherness in the squad, I’ve never had that in my career before. It’s unbelievable. I’m really happy to be part of it and it’s the same for many other players.
“We just try to fight for each other, we’ve been so much better and there’s been so much improvement over the last few years.”
It is just two years since a post-match video in which he said “everybody played s**t” went viral after Newcastle surrendered at Southampton. On Monday he spoke of potentially ending his career at Newcastle, a “club he loves”, and of the debt he owed to Howe for rescuing his career.
For the Newcastle boss, the plaudits will mean nothing if he is once again outsmarted by Edin Terzic – who piloted his side to an impressive 1-0 win at St James’ Park a fortnight ago.
That day Borussia Dortmund won the midfield battle, overloading Newcastle’s engine room and negating the impact of the effervescent Gordon.
Howe said he is contemplating tactical tweaks to change the narrative in Germany and it will be some occasion at a sold out Signal Iduna Park. It is a measure of his quality that you wouldn’t bet against him.
Howe: We don’t ruffle feathers intentionally
A defiant Eddie Howe says his Newcastle United side are happy to keep upsetting their top four rivals.
As an apoplectic Mikel Arteta and Arsenal continue to rake over the embers of Saturday’s battle at St James’ Park and the vagaries of VAR, Howe moved to mount a stout defence of his team’s robust approach.
Arteta’s anger mirrored the frustration of Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag, whose complaints about Newcastle’s tactics last season prompted Howe to say that his side were “here to compete, not make friends”.
“We’re not intentionally ruffling any feathers, we’re just trying to win,” he said, speaking ahead of Newcastle’s pivotal Champions League clash in Dortmund.
“I want the players to stand up for each other, I want them to play competitive football.
“I want us to be strong in certain moments, which we have to be, and I think we did all of those things on Saturday.”
There is little love lost between Howe’s Newcastle and many of their top four rivals, and his skipper Jamaal Lascelles was particularly scathing about Jorginho’s refusal to shake his hand after the game.
Howe expressed surprise at that but said he was satisfied at the way his side adapted to a contest that descended into something of a battle.
“I enjoy doing whatever it takes to win a game. Sometimes, it is what is needed,” he said.
“A game can go different ways. We know what we need to do. Sometimes, you play nice football, and sometimes, like Saturday, you have games that are really tight and intense, a lot of fouls.
“There were things off the pitch too, but I don’t really care, it’s the three points that matters.”
Meanwhile, Howe revealed that Dan Burn will be missing for a “couple of months” at least after landing on his spine – joining the club’s long injury list.
“It’s a huge blow. We are losing his character and determination to win as well,” he said.
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