Eddie Howe says he is worried about a 'fear' in Newcastle United camp that has cost so many points this season
Newcastle United have now dropped a staggering 11 points from winning positions this season as the inability to put a game to bed continues to be a massive issue.
So many times this season, we've watched Newcastle take the lead and then, instead of trying to kill the game off, have just sat back and invited pressure, ultimately conceding goals and losing games.
Last night was the same, but fortunately, Spurs didn't have time to go on and get a winner, so they had to make do with sharing the points.
Cristian Romero's 95th-minute equaliser prevented Newcastle from rocketing six places up the league, which made it feel like a defeat.
Eddie Howe feels there's a fear of conceding that's holding his team back
Speaking to the media after the game, Eddie Howe spoke about why he feels Newcastle could be dropping so many points, saying it could be psychological.
“It’s a really strange one. Sometimes these things go in cycles and happen and you can’t quite work them out, a bit like our away form. This is another one.
“We’ve historically been very good at seeing games out, navigating tough situations, and managing the game. We’ve got to try and re-find that quickly because it’s costing us important points.”
“I think you can look back at each moment and identify a mistake or a part of the team not doing its job. So the job for us is to obviously coach the team to be better in those situations and that’s what we’ll endeavour to do.”
“But sometimes it becomes psychological or about the fear of conceding, and then you do concede. There is so much that goes into it. But we have to find ways when we are in front to be better.
“Usually, the best form of defence is to attack. I encourage us to do that all the time. But sometimes you have to accept that you’re not in that position in the game to do it (attack) and you have to see it out defend better. Today was one of those moments, but we didn’t do it.”
Something needs to change in the camp quickly
Eddie Howe even said it himself, not only can we not see out games, but we also have that horrid away form. That's two really worrying trends that they need to buck immediately. Yes, we won away from home on Saturday, but that's just one. That could be the outlier for all we know yet.
There's definitely a mentality issue in the camp. We've been saying it all season, and the sooner it's identified and snuffed out, the better.
What is particularly galling about all of these dropped points is that in most of these games, we've been the better team for large parts of the game. If we were consistently poor, obviously that wouldn't be ideal, but at least we'd know why we were losing points. But to play well and come away empty-handed is somehow even more annoying.
