Eddie Howe has challenged Allan Saint-Maximin to couple his individual flair with being a team player - after the winger faced fan criticism.
The Newcastle boss admits he is striking a difficult balance with star man Saint-Maximin as he moulds the Toon into a tight, hard working unit. Howe wants the French wizard to hit the heights of the home game against Everton at the start of February, and knows he is a match winner.
But the 25-year-old has hit a rough patch suffering a bout of covid, and minor calf and groin injuries, with some fans questioning his form. Howe said: “I think for a player of his type, consistency will always be an issue because it’s very difficult to do what he does. But as long as we get the buy-in from him to the team, and he is really committed to the things he finds more difficult, which would be recovery runs, working off the ball… as long as we see that, the other things will take care of themselves.
