Geordie Journos Shots! Episode 2
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00:00We're back. It's your Geordie Journals. There's only two this week for your regular Shots
00:13TV 10.30 p.m. slot. It's not 10.30 right? It isn't. It's not live. It's not an amazingly
00:21late night on townside. But we thought we obviously have to record these things slightly
00:27in advance. I know. Elliot Anderson. Yeah, so Elliot Anderson had disappeared by the
00:33time the video went out last time. But fingers crossed you'll all be able to catch this on
00:40free view. Yeah? Yes. And also catch up as well if you need it. Right, this week's topic
00:47of conversation. What we going for Dom? Eddie Howe. He's the man. It's a shame we can't
00:53ask Jordan his opinions. Yes, Jordan is in sunnier climes. Sunnier climes. We all wish
01:00we were Jordan this week. But it's sunny enough for the moment. But yeah, Eddie Howe, the
01:07main man. And where are we? People might not know where we are. Well, I think it's obvious.
01:11We'll be walking up these steps soon. A lot of you may be walking up these steps. This
01:15is the Gallagher Strawberry Corner as it's better known. Yeah, so in a few weeks time,
01:23about a month's time, a little over, we'll have the Sella Weekender and then the Premier
01:27League season starts on the 17th of August. At home to Southampton. Southampton on the
01:34first day. Quite reasonably. It's a big test, isn't it really? Because it's a bit like Forest
01:40a couple of years ago. The play-off winners, a bit of an unknown quantity. There's a potential
01:44of certain players coming back as well. So we'll see what happens there. I think it's
01:52a big first few weeks for Newcastle United. They need to get off on the right foot. They
01:56have done in recent years, so I expect they will. Home game, Roke at St James' Park. I'm
02:01sure everybody will bang up for that day and fingers crossed, well, there'll definitely
02:05be a fair few new signings, I would imagine, in the door by the time everybody gets back
02:10and is walking up some of these iconic stairs at St James' Park. There's already been a
02:14few as well, which we'll get a closer look at in pre-season. So yeah, the big one, Eddie
02:19Howe, he's the main man. Last season was so up and down. If you're followers on YouTube,
02:24you were an Eddie Howe in Eddie Howe. Ooh, I'm not so sure. There was a range of emotions
02:31and I think Newcastle fans will have felt it too. There was times where there were big
02:35question marks over Eddie Howe, but then I think towards the end he definitely regained
02:40some of that trust. That coming seventh OK, Newcastle missed out on Europe, but it was
02:45a relatively strong end to the season. I'm firmly a believer in Eddie Howe and I've got
02:50faith in Eddie Howe. I don't know how you're thinking after the season Newcastle have just
02:53had. No, very much so as well. I think, and that's the main topic of conversation on this,
02:57is I'm very much Eddie Howe in, never been out. It's just, I think he's always had to
03:02grow and adapt and I think that's the next part that's needed, is has he learned some
03:08lessons from what in many ways, as you mentioned, was a roller coaster season. There were lots
03:13of minor ups and some quite big dips, I thought, during the season. How do you negate some
03:20of those dips and how do you make them less dippy? So this is Eddie Howe, if you're watching
03:26this, this is our take from a, well we're not experts. You're an expert. I mean, I haven't
03:34got coaching badges or anything like that. So I think Eddie Howe, if he's watching, would
03:39take our advice to him with a huge pinch of salt. But this is what we think Eddie Howe
03:45could learn from last season or could improve on this coming season. Yeah, I think lessons
03:49have got to be learned and this is our little mini, we don't know how many points yet, but
03:52there's a definite point plan as to what we think Newcastle United need to do from now
03:57on in to improve. This is the Geordie Journal's plan. As you expect, we do some waffling.
04:05So my first point, and I think it's the most obvious point that everybody else out there
04:08will be feeling too, is that injuries is the key, was the common denominator throughout
04:14the season and we've already seen little flashes of injuries already. Not even in pre-season
04:19yet and there's already flashes of injuries. Lewis Miley is going to be out for some time.
04:23It's a big blow for him, isn't it? Yeah, a massive blow. It was a big season. It sounds
04:26to me like he's been trying too hard to come back, having missed the last few months of
04:30the season with a problem that he had. He's went and broken his foot and it's going to
04:34keep him out for a little while. But were playing it safe, weren't they, towards the
04:37back end? Because I remember speaking to Eddie Howe, he said he could probably play again
04:42this season but it was just a case of get him rested up, get him ready for pre-season
04:47and now he's going to miss all of it. Yeah, they sent the lad on holiday, didn't they?
04:50They sent him away, I think he went to Dubai and it was just like, go on, you relax up,
04:5417, played a lot of games, now 18, ready to hit it fresh and start the season and bad
04:59luck again. When does bad luck go from being freak accidents to a common denominator, as
05:06I mentioned, and it's one thing that they have to learn from. I think the intensity
05:10of the way that Newcastle United play isn't conducive to keeping players fit consistently.
05:15Look, there's facets to this in many ways but I think they have to learn lessons from
05:21that. To expect it just to cross your fingers and hope it'll be better by doing the same
05:26methods next season is fraught with danger, in my opinion. I think if they go about things
05:32the same way, with the same training methods, the same recovery methods, the same levels
05:36of intensity, yes there's less games next season, that's going to be a big factor. But
05:42I think doing the same things expecting different results in any walk of life, whether that
05:48be in the Geordie Journos world or whether that be Newcastle United or St James' Park
05:51where we are now, I think is really, really dangerous. So, there was talk last season
05:57of being some kind of deep dive analysis into what has gone wrong, I think Eddie Howard
06:02Times last season admitted that he probably got things wrong. He literally said as much
06:08on the record, he said there has been mistakes, but he didn't point fingers as such, he said
06:14it's a collective responsibility. And I think Sven Botman is probably a prime example where
06:19some of it was to do with Eddie Howe, the medical team, Sven Botman himself, he's probably
06:25the prime example of a mismanaged injury from last season and it's unfortunate that he obviously
06:30got that setback and will miss the large chunk of the first half of the season.
06:34Quite iconic even to hear that bird chirping away in the background, it's actually a magpie.
06:39I don't know what it's shouting at, do magpies shout?
06:42Tweet.
06:43Tweet. Right, no, I think injuries for me is the real one that they've got to learn from.
06:50I hope he does. I think it's the one thing that undermined the whole season, I think,
06:54without certain injuries. And it wasn't the freak ones that concerned me the most, it
07:00wasn't the Nick Pope getting injured and popping his shoulder out, it wasn't Dan Byrne breaking
07:05his back or Elliot Anderson last season doing the same thing. It was Joe Linton being brought
07:09back too soon. Twice. Twice. It was, I mean Dan Byrne was brought back very soon from
07:14that broken back. Fortunately they got away with it. And they were alright. They got away
07:17with it. Dan Byrne's form may have suffered slightly but he didn't suffer another injury
07:21on the back of it. And Sven Botman, wherever that blame may lie, there was a lot of talk
07:25that it wasn't the club, it was the player himself who decided I want to play on. Look,
07:30your medical experts, take it out of the player's hands, it's not right, get him sorted. And
07:34they paid a price for that. They're struggling now and he's not going to be fit for the start
07:38of the season. In a fresh season, because of that management of that injury, he did
07:42his knee. He played against AC Milan in the first Champions League game and at Sheffield
07:49United in that 8-0 game. Was it? Did he miss? Brentford might have been in the game but
07:55yeah, AC Milan and Sheffield. He played in those games with a damaged knee and played
07:59really well. He scored, didn't he? But it ultimately cost him because he wasn't the
08:06same player again. He came back too soon, wasn't the same player and looked at a player
08:11who was not the Sven Botman that we know. That's where it's got to change. The management
08:16of injuries has got to be better. You can't legislate for a freak injury in a game. Nick
08:22Poe popping his shoulder, you can't legislate for that. It happens. Lewis Miley damaging
08:26himself on a run. Is Jacob Murphy dislocating his shoulder and then playing him again ten
08:31days later, is that a freak injury or is that mismanagement? But again, that was management
08:36of the injury. He was either fit to play or he wasn't and he clearly wasn't. It was so
08:42precarious, that shoulder, that it popped out with the slightest bit running. It was
08:4790 seconds after he'd come on, he went on a run and suddenly, I think it was the slightest
08:51pressure from a defender, it went. So it's got to be that. It's got to be the identification
08:56of injuries and it's got to be the management of them too. And that's something that was
09:02picked up on, I've said this before, on YouTube on our channel. Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp
09:08said the way Newcastle are managing their squad is almost ridiculous. It goes against
09:14the norm where they were playing well at the time in the Champions League and the Premier
09:18League, being competitive on all fronts with almost the same XI. And you know a Premier
09:24League team, well teams in the Premier League these days, it takes 16 players to win a game,
09:29it takes you five substitutes. And Eddie Howe was using almost 11 players a Saturday, Wednesday,
09:36Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday or Sunday, whenever. And they were still getting results and it
09:42almost defied anything Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, these elite managers, had known about
09:48football. And one thing that stuck with me towards the back end of last season in their
09:52FA Cup after Man City knocked Newcastle out was Pep Guardiola saying Newcastle will learn
09:58lessons this season from being in Europe, playing those games and managing the squad.
10:02A player like Fabian Schär, who to be honest, Pep Guardiola, name checked him, but he's
10:08a player who is very durable and plays most weeks. But he said he'll be a player now who
10:15was at the real top level, I thought he was good last season, but the season before he
10:19was one of the best defenders in the Premier League, playing Saturday, Saturday, Sunday,
10:23Saturday type thing. And getting back to that will be important. And what I would say is
10:29two seasons ago, Newcastle's injury record was actually very good. So Eddie Howe has
10:35to manage the injuries better, has to learn better, but there is a past example of Newcastle's
10:42injury record being fairly good. I think they got away with it the season before, you know.
10:46I think it was a trick. A match five not changing pretty much all season was the key to Newcastle's
10:51success in many ways. I remember mentioning on social media that they got very lucky with
10:54injuries that year and being shot down by people saying, but Alan St Maximan missed
10:58X amount of games and Callum Wilson missed X amount of games and Alexander Isak missed
11:02it. And they did, that was fair. But to have a goalkeeper right back, left back and two
11:06centre-halves who played 95% of the games all season is almost unheard of in an area
11:12where injury is quite common. Defenders take knocks, they miss a game here or there, it
11:18didn't happen. They get suspensions for bootings and sendings off, didn't happen really over
11:23the whole season. And that continuity, that trust that then was built up produced one
11:27of the best back lines that the Premier League's seen in the modern era. That didn't concede
11:32goals at all. They didn't have that continuity last season and it really made a big difference.
11:38So it's that management of injuries. Yeah, I think that's the first point. We'll wrap
11:42it up there for part one. We'll see you in a bit after that break for part two.
11:47Welcome back for part two of your Geordie Journals on Shots TV. We've been speaking
12:03about the lessons Eddie Howe could learn and what we think he could potentially do better
12:08for Newcastle United this coming season. We've talked about injuries in part one. Liam, what
12:14do you want to talk about now? So I think there's a few little minor things moving forward
12:21and I think my first key point would be in-game management. Thoughts on that one? No, no,
12:28I think there was a few occasions last season, as we spoke about in the first part, where
12:35Newcastle it was almost so frustrating that Eddie Howe's hands were tied at times in terms
12:43of his bench. There was young lads on the bench or there was your Paul Dummitt's Matt
12:48Ritchies who can't really change games in a positive manner. I think Matt Ritchie probably
12:53did that one time against Bournemouth. But there was probably games, I go back to Chelsea
12:58in the Carabao Cup quarter-final when you've got a few knocks. Anthony Gordon was a dead
13:04man walking. He couldn't run. Was he like Almiron in the same game? Yeah, and that was
13:11the time where the injuries were cropping up and you had Lewis Hall on the bench who
13:15was eligible to play. You had young lads on the bench. He brings on Matt Ritchie who again
13:20couldn't really run and I think it saw Newcastle go on the back foot and this is highlighting
13:26one game but I think it happened a few times throughout the season where I think Eddie
13:33Howe's in-game management was called into question. There was one game in particular
13:37where it looked like Newcastle's season would pretty much be over and this sort of maybe
13:44is an argument against the point we're trying to make but Eddie Howe wasn't making the changes
13:49at the time and the way Newcastle started the game against West Ham United here at St
13:54James' Park back in the end of March. There were three-one down and then Eddie Howe did
14:03make a couple changes but I don't know, do you think it was good fortune or do you think
14:09that was good management from Eddie Howe because that's probably the one example, almost the
14:15exception to the rule, where Eddie Howe's made changes and they've worked wonders. Yeah,
14:20so the one in my head obviously is that West Ham game where it was remarkable the comeback
14:26and it was almost like a feather in the cap at the end of the game for them. It was like
14:30your changes have massively impacted the outcome of this game but I did feel they were forced
14:35upon him in the game. I think the changes that he initially made weren't big changes
14:42to the game. It was almost then injuries that went on from that that he was forced to bring
14:46on Harvey Barnes who ended up having such a big impact on other players. So that for
14:50me is another one that sticks with me. I can count on one hand the amount of times that
14:53I think that Eddie Howe has actually made a big impact on a game. That was an outlier
14:57rather than the common thing. I think you said it off air, come on Eddie we want you
15:02to be more West Ham and not PSG or Chelsea. And again you mentioned his hands were tied
15:08but we were both over there in Paris with Jordan and I haven't got a lot of hair left
15:14but I was pulling the rest of it out almost. To think like please give those lads, Alexander
15:20Isak in that Paris game couldn't move. And it ties back to the injury management doesn't
15:24it? It is, it is. It's all linked. It's players dead on their feet having to get through 90
15:30minutes. At that time I was just so desperate. It was like just put somebody on and say go
15:35on son have a run. Just go and chase that ball. Just run on there like a dog chasing
15:40a ball. Just go and put pressure on people. You've got five minutes. He didn't and I think
15:45he has to learn lessons from that. The Chelsea game down at Stamford Bridge, the changes
15:49weren't there and Newcastle were just sucked further and further towards their own goal.
15:54We want to see positivity. Go and impact games in a positive manner off the bench.
15:59It's what defines elite managers isn't it? Where Eddie Howe, might not like to admit
16:03it himself, is probably just in that band below elite and it's what defines elite managers.
16:09You saw Liverpool come here last season down to ten men. Staring defeat in the face. Newcastle
16:141-0 up with eight minutes of normal time left. Brings on Darwin Nunes, makes a couple of
16:20changes. Eddie Howe takes Anthony Gordon off who was Newcastle's best player. Tearing Trent
16:24Alexander-Arnold apart who was on a booking. Eddie Howe takes him off. Jurgen Klopp brings
16:31on players who ultimately change the course of the game. Look, you didn't have those options
16:36on the bench. It's not necessarily that. I'll use Liverpool as the same example and you
16:39go back to the Carabao Cup final. Liverpool didn't have those high profile options on
16:44the bench and Jurgen Klopp still turned to his kids. He was throwing Dan's on up front.
16:50Were the game still to win? Liverpool weren't in control of that game. Go on and still win
16:54the game. He trusted his kids to go out there and do it. Look, this is probably a different
16:58video altogether. You can't say don't have the levels and layers upon players that Liverpool
17:03have or many of the other teams in the Premier League. But still, if they're good enough
17:07to be in the squad, you've got to trust them on the pitch. When your players have nothing
17:11left. When they're firing, they've got nothing. They're running on empty. You can give us
17:16five minutes. You can give us five minutes. He did it at Bournemouth. He threw Ben Parkinson
17:20on and said give us five minutes when the game was gone. He should have probably done
17:23that a little bit more in games. Look, he's not perfect. None of us are. This is a hyper-critical
17:29video. We're critical friends. That's how I would describe us. Constructive criticism.
17:34Constructive criticism. It's better with your words than me. We'd appreciate, well, we might
17:38not always appreciate, but constructive criticism in the comments. We often get that. So yeah,
17:43on that, there was games last season. A lot of fans felt it. You felt it. I mean, there
17:48was question marks over Lewis Hall, for example, who's a player I know you're well excited
17:53about watching. First half of the season, he did get a few run outs and he did look
17:58a player a little bit off, but he's 19 years old. You have to trust him. You think once
18:04Lewis Hall got a run of games, he looked great and he really developed and maybe he needed
18:09that time to develop, but there were certainly games earlier in the season when Dan Byrne
18:14was really struggling. Eddie Howe would rather play Dan Byrne with a broken back than Lewis
18:20Hall and I think that moves us on to our next point a little bit where Eddie Howe just wants
18:26the feeling we get and he may disagree with this. He wants control. He's a bit of a control
18:33freak and that can work wonders for managers at times, but I think he needs to just relinquish
18:39some of that control and trust his players, trust his staff as well, which I'm sure he
18:44does to a degree, but then you've got Paul Mitchell coming in as a sporting director
18:50and the sort of information we got regarding Dan Ashworth was that was never, in terms
18:57of a working relationship, it never really quite worked because of the way Eddie Howe
19:03wanted that full control and I think it's something moving forward in terms of transfers,
19:09you just have to trust the people who are in there and Eddie Howe is probably a bit
19:13old school in that way, where he wants full control. He is the manager of the club but
19:17he's not, he's the head coach. He wants to focus on coaching the team. He's not acting
19:22like a head coach? No. That's the top and bottom of it. We've all realised that. Anybody
19:26who's got any knowledge of any of the slightest workings of St James' Park knows that Eddie
19:31Howe wants control. I think we've mentioned it on these videos previously, whether it
19:35be on YouTube or on Shots TV, that Eddie Howe would probably prefer not to have those
19:41layers of football executives above him. He kind of just wants to run it like a Sir Alex
19:47Ferguson did, like a Sir Bobby Robson did, like Brian Clough, whoever it may be. Somebody
19:52like that, that's what they want. But it doesn't work like that. Football is a different business
19:56these days to what it used to be. The risk and reward is huge. If you get something wrong
20:02at this level, the amount of money that's involved, the amount of due diligence that
20:07has to be done on these players, there is so much available to people that it's too
20:12much for one person to take on board. You almost need that collective approach rather
20:18than just one man making decisions. Nothing wrong with vetoes, nothing wrong with somebody
20:22having a big say, because ultimately it's got to fit in the team and the squad that
20:25you are producing. However, collecting all of that information has to be delegated and
20:31that's one thing that Eddie Howe needs to do more, is delegate responsibility. I think
20:36on transfers, you've got somebody in now, of course anybody who missed the news, I'm
20:39sure you didn't out there, within the last week or so, Paul Mitchell of course coming
20:44in, one of the most highly regarded sporting directors on the planet, particularly involved
20:50with English football. Look, I'm not going to stand here and profess to be the expert
20:55on what a sporting director and director of football does. However, the people talking
21:00about the jobs that Paul Mitchell has done in football, whether that be Tottenham, back
21:05to MK Dons, Southampton, Leipzig, Monaco, he's got an amazing CV. He's got a CV where
21:12you'd say it's a big step up on Dan Ashworth, the man who went in previously to him. Trust
21:17the man who signed top, top players for all of these clubs. Interestingly, he signed Kieran
21:22Tripp here as well, didn't he? Yes, for £3.5 million, that turned out quite well. Turned
21:27out alright here too. Yes, which was an Eddie Howe signing, or a Kieran Trippier signing
21:31really. Well, it was a Kieran Trippier signing. Kieran Trippier approached Nicassa United,
21:35which I'm sure many of you guys who regularly watch the Geordie Journos will know. Yes,
21:40so I think it's something Eddie Howe. Eddie Howe will grow, he's still fairly young in
21:46manager terms and this is a new experience for him. Champions League last season, the
21:51size of the club, remember he's come from Bournemouth is pretty much the extent of his
21:55managerial experience and what a job he did there, but it's a little bit different and
22:01he recognises that and he'll learn lessons. He's been here less than three years as well,
22:07so it's enough time to learn and I think he has learned in some aspects, but I think the
22:12appointment of sporting directors, Newcastle get more and more coaches in, more and more
22:18scouts in. So yes, Newcastle are starting to get more and more, they're growing, they're
22:22developing, they've developed quite a lot just since Eddie Howe's come in and I think
22:26it goes back to your point, Eddie Howe has grown with the club to an extent, but he has
22:30to keep growing. Yes, he does. That's going to be so important for him. The likes of Isak,
22:36Bruno, these quality players, Anthony Gordon to a degree, all these elite players or elite
22:42players Newcastle want to attract, their aspirations as a club, Eddie Howe needs to be an elite
22:50head coach, not an elite all-encompassing manager. His job is to focus on making those
22:56changes on the pitch, managing the injuries to a degree, listening to his staff and then
23:02the sort of overarching thing is trust the people around him. I'm not saying he doesn't
23:08because he absolutely will to an extent, but with Paul Mitchell coming in, trust him, he's
23:13an expert in that field. Let him get on with his work.
23:18While you're listening, Eddie, the Geordie Journals have spoken. I'll see you in a couple
23:22weeks, Eddie, so you can tell us how right or wrong I am. And until next week, where
23:27you'll see the Geordie Journals again at your regular slot, 10.30 on Shots TV. Thanks for
23:33watching.