Newcastle United earned a hard fought point on the road in the Champions League, after a back-and-forth 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen on ...
Newcastle United earned a hard fought point on the road in the Champions League, after a back-and-forth 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night.
An own goal from a corner gave the hosts the lead, before an Anthony Gordon penalty and Lewis Miley header put us into the lead, only for Alejandro Grimaldo to score a 88th minute equaliser.
The result still leaves us in a relatively comfortable 12th place in the Champions League table, where three more points should guarantee our place in at least the play-offs, but there are regrets from our last two away games after surrendering leads at Marseille and Leverkusen.
Here’s what Eddie Howe had to say after the final whistle last night,
Howe on a night of mixed emotions
Last night’s game was typical of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle this season, for better and for worse.
A slow start was followed by a strong response in the second half, but so much of our good work went to waste as Leverkusen became just the latest side to score late, just as Spurs did last Tuesday.
In a game full of ups and downs, Howe discussed some of the key moments and his frustration at coming so close to making it 3-1 before the equaliser:
“I thought the players deserve a lot of credit for that response, because you come here and you’re 1-0 down, the crowd’s in the game, maybe slightly fortunate in that moment where Malick almost gives the penalty away.”
“That was a big moment for us, that gave us the stability maybe we needed. The second half was a lot better. I thought we were more aggressive in both phases, both on our press and in possession.”
“Played with more belief and looked a really good team, and we’re inches away from making it 3-1 a few times. Yeah, that’s really frustrating.”
“I thought we pressed with more belief – I thought we pressed well in both halves, actually, and regained the ball a lot and I thought we had several opportunities to counter-attack and cause them more problems than we did.
“But we eventually got our attacking game going and we could have scored more. It’s a tough one to take because at 3-1, I think it would have been game over. The big moments in games are costing us points.”
On addressing game management issues
When pressed further on the concession of another late goal, Howe insisted that he does not encourage the team to sit back too early and protect what we’ve got.
“No, I don’t think it’s ever a case of sitting back and absorbing pressure. That’s not number one in our aim. But I think you need to do whatever it takes to win. Sometimes that is part of the course, that’s what you have to do. 2-1 ahead today with minimal time left.
“You know to a degree you’re going to have some defending to do at different stages and you have to stand up and be counted and do that and we didn’t do it well enough. And that’s a team thing, it’s the whole group realising the importance of defending our goal.
“Historically we’ve done it really well. Last year I think we were excellent at it. And I do think you go in phases and cycles and some things crop up that you can’t quite work out to a degree and then you fix that and something else crops up.”
On plan of action following tonight
Whilst a draw wouldn’t have been the result we were looking for, all three points from tonight would have relieved some massive pressure on the squad ahead of the games against PSV and PSG.
“I think it leaves us in a good position. It’s in our hands. We have two tough games to come but we’ll look forward to playing at home and then, of course, a really tough one at the end which we knew was always there.”
“But all we can do is now focus back on to the Premier League. We’re in a decent vein of form. We’re not at our very best but we’re improving and that’s all I can ask of the players.”
After two wins and two draws in our last four, let’s hope the unbeaten run can continue ahead of big upcoming games against Sunderland, Fulham, Chelsea and Man Utd between now and Boxing Day!
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