Newcastle boss Eddie Howe defends Liverpool substitutions
Eddie Howe #EddieHowe
Howe made three changes just after the 70-minute mark against Liverpool when Newcastle were leading 1-0, with Sean Longstaff, Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes replacing Sandro Tonali, Alexander Isak and the brilliant Anthony Gordon.
Newcastle had dominated against 10-man Liverpool but Howe sensed the visitors were coming back into the game and wanted to add some fresh legs and energy to swing the momentum back into the home side’s favour.
But the changes backfired as Liverpool hit a dramatic late double to stun the Magpies and take all three points.
Darwin Nunez scored an equaliser in the 81st minute, before Howe made a fourth change a minute later when he introduced Elliot Anderson in place of Joelinton.
Newcastle were then forced into another change three minutes from time when the injured Sven Botman was replaced by Matt Targett, with Nunez hitting the winner six minutes later.
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“I tried to change the momentum of the match. Liverpool had a flurry of set-plays and we wanted more control,” said Howe, explaining his first three substitutions and standing by his decisions.
“There’s always things you’d do differently if you don’t win the match but I believe we have to trust our bench,” he said.
“We have to trust the top quality players I’m bringing on like Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes and Sean Longstaff. Sean was outstanding as was Callum last year, I can’t fear putting them on the pitch in that situation.
“They’re top quality players, as was Harvey last year. Now of course sometimes when you make those changes it doesn’t go as you foresee but the same could have happened if we’d left the same players on the pitch.
“I’m certainly not going to blame the substitutes that came on the pitch for why we didn’t win the match. Absolutely not. I don’t think they were directly involved in the goals. That isn’t a collective responsibility.
“The three lads that came on tried to impact the match in the way we wanted them to, that’s football, sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it goes against you.”