'I still feel like we're creating': We are starting to wonder if Eddie Howe is watching the same games as us

Eddie Howe had more odd takeaways from last night's game when the Newcastle United boss spoke to the gathered media masses following the 2-0 defeat to West Ham.

Okay, I promise this is the last story ranting about the delusions of Eddie Howe ... today! But before I get into it again, no matter how it sounds, I'm in no way saying that I want a change of manager. I still believe in Eddie Howe and I love what he's done and is doing for the club and changing manager now would be absolutely crazy.

This is merely a dig at him not being honest with us in interviews. We all know that Howe is a relentlessly positive person and always looks for the silver lining, but at a certain point, it's okay to call out a poor performance for being what it is.

After saying he was 'pretty pleased' with the performance last night we were already confused, but then he went on to suggest that his side are creating chances ... I mean ... are they though? Two attempts on target, one of which had less weight on it than a cushioned backpass and the other came about from a Jean-Clair Todibo error.

Eddie Howe's take on last night's game is frustrating

Howe spoke to the media (via The Northern Echo) last night and tried to put a positive spin on things again.

“We need to score, we need to feel that confidence, to feel that belief, and we’ve had that for such a long time.

“I still feel we’re creating though, and I think that’s always the main thing. I don’t think (against West Ham) you would have begrudged us scoring a couple of goals with the moments that we had.

“But we’re probably still not as fluent as we have been previously, and so that’s stuff for us to try to fix.”

The chances Newcastle were creating were half-chances at best. Alexander Isak should have done better with a couple of them, sure, but the clear-cut chances were so few and far between in a game where we saw so much of the ball. And with the best will in the world, the main thing isn't that we're creating, the main thing is putting those chances away.

All we want is a bit of honesty, Eddie

Crosses hitting the first defender or sailing over the heads of everyone in the box, through balls being cut out, getting to the byline and working the ball back to the defence is NOT creating chances. It's keeping the ball and doing nothing with it.

Fabian Schar sent a ball into Leazes Park from 30 yards and it was the closest we'd had to a meaningful shot for ages.

I'll never understand this desire to try and walk the ball into the net. 30-odd touches in the opposition box and only 13 shots is not how the game works. West Ham had more shots than touches in the box and scored two goals. It's not a hard concept to grasp.

Hopefully, Howe never has a reason to, but should Newcastle get beat again, we'd love it if he just came out and gave an interview that was a fair representation of what the rest of us saw.

Anyway, I'm off to find something 'positive' to write about because I'm winding myself up now!