Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has claimed that his team will not change their style after Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag claimed the Magpies were an annoying team to face.
Ten Hag made his comments ahead of the Carabao Cup final in February which the Reds won 2-0 thanks to goals from Casemiro and Marcus Rashford. When asked for his assessment of the North East team in February, the Dutchman said: "I think it’s a great team with a clear philosophy about how they want to play the game. The key word is intensity. They do really well.
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"They’re an annoying team to play against, so we have to find a way to win. They try to annoy you. We have to make sure that we play our game and we focus on our game."
It was understood that Ten Hag was referring to Newcastle's game-management tactics which has seen them be accused of time-wasting on occasion this season.
However, in his pre-match press conference ahead of the visit of United, Howe said that he would not be changing how his team operate after Ten Hag's comments. He explained: "It's part of the game, but not the main part of the game.
"The main part of the game is we have to play well. We have to be really good in possession and really good out of possession. The game management stuff has been massively overblown towards us in the media. That's just my opinion.
"First and foremost, we want to be a good football team, but if there are things you can do, as Kieran [Trippier] showed for the penalty [vs Nottingham Forest], to help your team in certain moments, that are all within the laws of the game, we will try to do it." Howe was alluding to Trippier's role in absorbing the 'mind games' from the Forest players ahead of a last-minute penalty at the City Ground prior to the international break.
Once Newcastle were in a position to take the spot kick, the England international chose to hand the ball to teammate Alexander Isak who converted to win the game for his team.
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