Dominic Scurr reflects on Eddie Howe's Newcastle United press conference ahead of Sunday's FA Cup match v Brighton.
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00:00Hello everyone, back here at the Newcastle United Media Centre, where we've been speaking
00:05to Eddie Howe ahead of Sunday's FA Cup fifth round clash against Brighton at St James'
00:12Park. Plenty to talk about in the press conference today, obviously the fallout of the Liverpool
00:16game on Wednesday, the injury situation and team selection dilemmas facing Eddie Howe
00:24ahead of Sunday's game. It's an interesting one because Newcastle ultimately up against
00:28Premier League opposition, but FA Cup, in the previous two rounds, Newcastle have rotated
00:35the side quite significantly, albeit it has been against lower league opposition. So,
00:41several decisions facing Eddie Howe this weekend. Obviously we'll start on the injury front
00:47because Alexander Isak missed the Liverpool game, late withdrawal due to a groin issue.
00:53Will he be fit for Sunday's game? Eddie Howe said if he's fit, he will play. That's sort
00:58of the message surrounding Alexander Isak. He's such a key player for Newcastle, 21 goals
01:03this season. Newcastle, without Alexander Isak this season, in the Premier League at
01:09least, have failed to score from open play and failed to win. It's only three games,
01:13a small sample size, but that is a damning stat. That was part of my question to Eddie
01:19Howe, how do you find a way to score without Alexander Isak in your side? Because such
01:23a prolific source of goals for the side. Ultimately, it's a problem Eddie Howe doesn't
01:29want to face and that's the sort of way he was going with his answer. He said hopefully
01:34we don't need to find out, but he backs the players Newcastle have to deliver, even though
01:41in the previous three games when Isak hasn't been there, they haven't delivered. That's
01:45often led to players like Anthony Gordon having to move out of position. It's a bit fiddly,
01:52Newcastle have to change a little bit too much, as we saw on Wednesday night at Liverpool
01:57with Anthony Gordon, Callum Wilson up front, things like that. Then the left wing position,
02:03it all gets a bit messy when Alexander Isak doesn't play. Will he play on Sunday though?
02:08Again, Eddie Howe couldn't quite give a clear answer. He said, wait and see, be assessed
02:15today. Obviously, he trained after the Nottingham Forest game, just felt something and then
02:21withdrew from the squad for the Liverpool game. But not a serious issue, has every chance
02:27of being back, certainly for the important games in the Premier League and Carabao Cup
02:32final coming up. Likely though, based on what you're hearing and what Eddie Howe was suggesting,
02:40would be rested for this game because Callum Wilson is indeed fit. Then there's question
02:44marks I guess over Callum Wilson, obviously took a cut to just above his eye on Wednesday
02:52night. Eddie Howe said he's fine, but ultimately a player who has been starved of first-team
02:58football in the past 12 months due to injury really. So fitness, an issue for him, but
03:04will have to play games to get fully back up to speed. So could he start again, second
03:10game in the space of a week? There's every chance of that happening. But again, Alexander
03:15Isak will be assessed before the weekend. And two more players that will be assessed
03:20ahead of Sunday's games, Femme Botman and Jo Linton. They've missed the last four and
03:24five games respectively due to knee injuries and haven't trained, according to Eddie Howe,
03:30until Friday when he was speaking in the press conference, they may well train today and
03:36then be assessed. He said today is an important day for those two players and have to see
03:42if they're fit enough to be involved against Brighton on Sunday. But he said knowing those
03:48players they will do everything they can and will be very keen to be involved and get back
03:52playing and prove themselves ultimately before the Cowboy Cup final. Because this is the
03:58last chance a lot of players will have, well last chance Newcastle will have, to play at
04:04St James' Park before the Cowboy Cup final. After that they're down in London for West
04:08Ham, then back in London for the Cowboy Cup final. So yeah, these sort of bread and butter
04:14are the home games at St James' Park. These are what the players want to do and play in
04:20and prove themselves for. So yeah, it'd be good to see hopefully one of Alexander Isak,
04:27Joe Linton, Sven Botman back. Though Eddie Howe has suggested there could be some rotation
04:34to the side. Another big decision Eddie Howe will be facing will be in goal because he's
04:40brought Nick Pope back the last two games. Newcastle have conceded five goals. I'd argue
04:48Nick Pope has been at fault for certainly the first goal in each of the last two games
04:53and it's a big decision because the FA Cup game lends itself to some rotation but when
04:58you look at the important games coming up, West Ham, Liverpool, then you need Nick Pope
05:04to be getting a run of games, getting into form if you have any intention of starting
05:09him in the final. Or do you almost have a U-turn on your decision the last two games
05:15and goal, no actually Martin Dabravka is your man in goal. It's a difficult one for Eddie
05:22Howe but I think he's probably made his mind up regarding who his first choice goalkeeper
05:26is as he has historically favoured Nick Pope over Martin Dabravka. So I'd imagine he'd
05:33persist with Nick Pope this Sunday with a view to getting him back to his best levels
05:40because he again, a bit like someone like Calum Wilson, hasn't played a lot of football
05:45due to injuries. Obviously played a lot more than Calum Wilson but obviously missed two
05:50months due to injury earlier in the season and then missed the second half of last season
05:56pretty much as well due to injury. It's that left shoulder that seems to be causing Nick
06:01Pope a lot of problems. If you look at a lot of goals he's conceded this season, there's
06:06been quite a few where you go a little bit delayed, dive into his left. It's been a bit
06:13of a struggle. He's not quite the goalkeeper he was before the injury so there's big question
06:19marks over Nick Pope, there's question marks over Martin Dabravka as well. You look at
06:23the form Newcastle have with Martin Dabravka in the side compared to Nick Pope in the side.
06:29It's almost a reverse of last season where Newcastle's form was very good with Nick Pope,
06:33poor with Martin Dabravka and now it's very good with Martin Dabravka. I think 12 wins
06:39out of 15 with Martin Dabravka starting whereas Nick Pope, OK they beat Nottingham Forest
06:45on last Sunday but they made a tough job of it and that was partly down to the early goal
06:53conceded by Nick Pope. I guess they did bounce back from that quite resoundingly but then
07:00conceded a few more in the second half as well. So yeah, big decisions to make in goal,
07:06big decisions to make up front and then in the defence as well but all in all, FA Cup
07:12fifth round match against Brighton. We'll have it covered every step of the way on the Shields
07:17Gazette, all the reaction from Eddie Howe over on the Shields Gazette and all the build-up to
07:22the match there and then be at St James' Park on Sunday for that game where we'll have player
07:28ratings, reaction and everything to come from that. So thanks for watching, see you there.