“Will be a concern” – Journalist says Eddie Howe now facing major Newcastle setback

The loss to Borussia Dortmund dealt a blow to Newcastle United.
In an interview with GIVEMESPORT, journalist Ben Jacobs provided an update on Eddie Howe’s likely emotions following Newcastle United’s most recent Champions League loss to Borussia Dortmund. He also touched on a significant ‘concern’ surrounding the result.

Losing to a European powerhouse like Dortmund is hardly a cause for shame, and Howe is probably not dwelling too much on the setback. But some questions have surfaced from the match that might shed light on some important issues at St. James’ Park.

Overall, Newcastle’s comeback to European football has been successful.

Champions League football returned to St James’ Park when the North East club finished fourth in the Premier League the previous year. Newcastle supporters would have been both terrified and thrilled about the possibility of playing AC Milan, Dortmund, and Paris Saint-Germain when the group stage draw was announced.

The Magpies’ season began with an impressive draw against Milan at San Siro, where Howe’s team played their opening match. The Premier League team was scheduled to play PSG next, but Newcastle surprised everyone by winning 4-1 at St. James’ Park. Newcastle was beginning to demonstrate that they could compete with some of the top teams in Europe.

 

 

Following injuries sustained during the match, Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy lost at home against Dortmund. Having Isak and Murphy out for a while has added salt to the wounds, even though it seems like a nightmare scenario following their first Champions League loss of the season.

The Magpies have a challenging schedule of games in three separate competitions coming up. Newcastle will play Manchester United in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night, looking to exact revenge on the team that defeated them in the Wembley final last season. Newcastle will play Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League this weekend. Then, Howe’s team travels to Germany to play Dortmund again before hosting Arsenal in the English Premier League.

Ben Jacobs update at St James’ Park

According to Jacobs, Howe is the kind of manager who can remain composed following a setback and believes his team can gain a lot of insight from the Dortmund match. The journalist continues, saying that while Isak’s injury will be a worry, Newcastle won’t panic about the outcome and will be able to recover when they play the German team away from home in their next European match. In an interview with GIVEMESPORT, Jacobs stated…

“It was probably a mixture of Dortmund being above par, and Newcastle being below par and by the finest of margins, therefore, they lost that game. They also lost Alexander Isak to injury, which will be a concern. But Eddie Howe is always quite level-headed and I think that he will still feel like his side can learn from that, and it’ll benefit Newcastle in many ways to go from playing Dortmund at home to immediately playing them away, because it will be fresh in the memory. It wouldn’t remotely surprise me if Newcastle, who are a very good team away from home, ended up getting something away at Dortmund and in such a tight group, they’ll need to now, if they’re going to qualify for the knockout stage. But I think yeah, Newcastle will be very level-headed about the loss, there will be no sort of panic stations. Everyone’s aware that this is a tough group. It’s just sort of disappointing because that Dortmund game at home was almost like a cup final, because if Newcastle had won it, they’d have been on seven points and, in likelihood, on the cusp of finishing second at the bare minimum.”

 

Isak’s injury highlights a concern for Eddie Howe

 

 

The Magpies’ attacking depth may be a cause for concern, despite the fact that Callum Wilson can fill in for Isak in his absence. According to Transfermarkt, the England international has experienced numerous injuries while playing for Newcastle, most notably a persistent hamstring issue.

 

With no other senior strikers at the club, Howe will be forced to use someone in an unfamiliar center-forward role if Wilson sustains another setback in addition to Isak being sidelined. Even though the injury wasn’t serious, the Newcastle manager acknowledged after the Dortmund match that it would still prevent him from playing against Wolves.