Howe must think big enough
It’s a while since Newcastle began a game against Liverpool as favourites, but that was their status pre-match, a situation they attacked with typical intensity. But with the visitors threatening an equaliser, Eddie Howe had a decision to make: close the game down, or seek a clinching goal? In the event, he did a bit of both, making like-for-like or defensive changes, but without ordering his players to stop pressing. Darwin Nuñez twice found space in behind his back four, and though it required a little good fortune and two fantastic finishes for his team to have the game snatched from them, with more emphatic instructions, the hosts might have seen out the win. Howe may have only got the Newcastle job because better-qualified candidates were busy, but he has done a superb job since. Given the nature of both football and his bosses, in order to keep it he should change his mentality to that of a big-club manager – and fast. Daniel Harris
