Eddie Howe admits Newcastle United are struggling to get the best out of 'magnificent' player this season
Eddie Howe spoke quite candidly about the form of one of his players during his press conference on Friday morning, which is unusual for him.
The Newcastle United boss was faced with a question over the form of Sandro Tonali whose performance against Burnley drew a lot of criticism.
Some fans questioned whether the Italian was even committed to the club anymore, but in reality, he just looked exhausted.
However, it's not unfair to suggest that Tonali's performances this season have been way off what he showed during the last campaign, for the most part at least.
Eddie Howe admitted Sandro Tonali hasn't been close to his best this season
We've seen moments of brilliance from the Italian international, and we've been treated to some fantastic displays too, but, much like the team as a whole, the consistency hasn't been there and Eddie Howe actually admitted that they were struggling to identify the issue.
“Last season in particular, I thought he was magnificent and him returning to the team gave us almost like a new signing, a new energy boost.
“He built really good relationships with the players around him and I think he was really, really effective in lots of different dimensions of the game.
“I think this season, for whatever reason, I don’t think he’s quite hit those levels that he did the season before.
“We’re working with him to get him back to those levels. I think we’ve seen games where he’s performed really well and even within games, there’s been moments and periods of the game where he’s been absolutely at his best.
“But it’s that consistency level for him – as it is for the team – that we’re focusing on.”
We see Sandro Tonali as the type of player who will not rest until he puts things right
The good thing for Newcastle fans is that Tonali doesn't seem the type of player to shy away from a poor run of form. We saw the work he put in during and after his 10-month ban; he was desperate to prove himself and to get to the top of his game.
He recently spoke about how the pace and the intensity of the Premier League and how Newcastle play took him by surprise, and how he put in the work to become fitter.
That gives us plenty of reason to believe that Tonali will work on himself and will not rest until he gets back to the absolute top of his game. We just hope it's something he can do sooner rather than later.
