Eddie Howe has admitted Newcastle have made “mistakes” this season, most notably in the sphere of injury management, where he accepts players have been “overloaded”.
Howe has seen his team’s Champions League campaign ended and their Premier League form derailed by a series of debilitating injuries that have, at times, sidelined more than 11 first-team players simultaneously.
“It’s not just the number of injuries we’ve had but the length of time those players have been out for,” said Newcastle’s manager, who will be without, among others, Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon, Joelinton and Joe Willock at Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening. “We went into this season with a squad built to cope with all the demands we’d face and the competitions we’ve played in but, certainly, we’ve made mistakes. Certainly we could do things better.
“You can handle one or two [long-term injuries] but it has been three or four months for five, six, seven, eight players. There has been no light at the end of the tunnel and then your squad is stretched and you get more injuries. It’s been one of those seasons when you feel everything has gone against us.”
Not that Howe attributes Newcastle’s overflowing treatment room to sheer bad luck. “Of course when you have the number of injuries we have had some of those have come from too much load or maybe our programmes are not good enough in the gym,” he said.
“The players do a lot of work. They don’t just go out on the training pitch, they do a lot of gym work, a lot of different things. If we are sitting here going we have not made any mistakes I think we are being fools. So, of course, we analyse everything. When I say we, I include everyone at the football club. It’s not about one individual or department. We are all in it together and, of course, we have to respond.
“We have to improve what we deliver for the players. Football never stands still. Demands are only going up physically. The Premier League is a lot quicker league than it was last year. The physical demands are greater. So your strategies and how you treat the players behind the scenes have to improve.”
Howe has attempted to address the matter by appointing a new head physiotherapist. Jonny King, with whom he worked at Bournemouth, has left Leicester to replace Danny Murphy.
King and his staff are analysing every injury. “We’re reviewing every one we get, and trying to find a reason why,” said Howe. “Some are freaks but there are some, usually muscle pulls, where you’re going: ‘Is there a way we could have avoided that?’”
Newcastle’s manager is also concerned about football’s role in accelerating the climate crisis. A combination of geographical isolation and a lack of feasible alternatives dictate that Newcastle fly to most of their away games but Howe accepts that has become controversial.
“The flying debate, how we travel to games, I’ll leave that to someone else to figure that one out,” he said. “But I do think it needs consideration. It needs thought. But certainly around the training ground I will push to do everything in a better way. Food wastage and we can recycle more, everything we can do to protect the planet, is certainly in our thoughts.”
