'Really pleasing': Eddie Howe reacts after Newcastle United suffer third pre-season defeat
Newcastle United fans are still waiting for something to celebrate this summer, with the signing of Anthony Elanga feeling like a distant memory.
The club's efforts in the transfer market have been as successful as their efforts on the pitch during the three friendlies we've seen so far.
After defeats to Celtic and Arsenal, Team K-League needed just a single goal to make it three defeats in three games for the Magpies.
As we have to keep telling ourselves, these are just pre-season friendlies, and it's not about the results, it's about fitness.
Eddie Howe was focused on the positives after another pre-season defeat
We gave our excuses early in our post-match write-up, and Eddie Howe has used a couple of them himself in his post-match interview as quoted by The Mag.
“You could tell that they have that sharpness, also the experience, of playing in this heat as well. They are two huge factors.
“I thought that our performance got better in the second half and that was a really pleasing thing. The first half we started really well, then we faded a little bit in terms of our attacking intent.
“I always say during pre-season games, you want the tougher examinations.
“You want the opposition to be of a really good level.
“The game was high intensity, quick restarts from both teams. We would have got a load out of that physically, which is what pre-seasons are for."
Spurs are up next for Newcastle on Sunday
Next up for Newcastle is another game in Korea as part of the Coupang Play Series, where they will take on Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs should be at a similar fitness level to Newcastle, as well as having the same level of acclimatisation to the Korean humidity, so we expect it will be a much tighter game.
That will, of course, depend on the starting XI that Eddie Howe puts out, and given that he made minimal changes today, we're expecting an almost entirely different lineup on Sunday.
