Craig Hope reveals Eddie Howe's frustration with one Newcastle United player at key moment in Manchester City defeat
Despite going down 2-0 in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday night, Newcastle United can take some solace in the fact that they did put up a good fight against Manchester City.
We're not going to sit here and say that Newcastle were fantastic last night, but they certainly weren't bad. We've seen far worse performances this season, and when you consider the physical toll the last two games must have taken on our players, the fact that we put up such a good fight last night is a huge credit to the team.
Newcastle created plenty of chances, and it was just those razor-fine margins that made the difference.
There were times, however, that it did feel that we'd taken our foot off the gas, and one of those moments was certainly spotted by Eddie Howe.
Eddie Howe blasted Yoane Wissa in the first half
In his post-match review on YouTube, Daily Mail journalist Craig Hope recalled a moment where Bernardo Silva was afforded far too much time on the ball by Yoane Wissa, which caused an uncharacteristically heated reaction from Eddie Howe.
"There was one moment in the first half where Eddie Howe went nuts. I've never seen this. 'Effing hell, effing hell' he screamed twice when Bernardo Silva skipped almost wilfully in his own penalty box unopposed.
"He took it up with Wissa, 'Why didn't you press him? Why aren't you doing more?' He was absolutely furious. He then took it up with Jacob Ramsey who protested his innocence. Howe wasn't happy with the intensity there."
Newcastle's squad is absolutely knackered, and things are only going to get worse
Yoane Wissa played an hour against Bournemouth on Saturday, so compared to a lot of other players in the Newcastle squad, he was relatively fresh and should have been pushing more.
On the flip side, though, since returning from a long injury lay off, he has featured in almost every game, and it's clear that he's still some way off full match fitness.
I think if last night taught us anything, it's that we cannot let January go by without making additions to the squad. We don't want to scare you, but look at Newcastle's upcoming fixtures, and you tell us if we feel this squad in its current state is going to see us through this next period.
