The Magpies were beaten 4-1 and Eddie Howe has explained his approach on Merseyside
22:51, 31 Jan 2026Updated 23:17, 31 Jan 2026
Eddie Howe
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has revealed his team selection and formation was forced upon him at Anfield during the 4-1 defeat against Liverpool.
Howe said he had no chance of starting Lewis Miley and Sven Botman due to injury concerns. Howe started the game with Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and Anthony Elanga and tried to hurt Liverpool with pace but could not keep up the tempo.
Howe, speaking at his post-game Press conference, said after the game: “We wanted to go for real pace against their backline. That was the idea behind selection.
“Anthony played really well. Not just his goal but his all-around play, his athleticism, and his technical ability, I think it helped the team. We gave them problems. We could not use Sven Botman and Lewis Miley so the team selection and formation was forced upon on us.”
When asked why Miley and Botman did not play, Howe said: “Sven had a tight thigh and we were under the advice not to use them. With Lewis he could not bend his knee to declare himself fit.”
“The thing that’s cost us today is the manner of the goals we’ve conceded. We wouldn’t normally, by our very high standards, concede those types of goals.”
Speaking about Newcastle’s poor away form, with just two wins on the road in the Premier League, Howe said: “It has been a problem for us all season, there is no getting away from that fact. Ideally today we would have played a little differently but we were really hamstrung with injuries so we went the way that we did and I was pleased with the attitude of the players. We saw some really positive signs that can help us in the future.
“We have to keep looking for solutions. We are in a tough run with a lot of away fixtures so we are going to be really finely tuned and hope we can solve our away form and in the next games we can come up with the solutions to take us forward.”
When asked what his message to the Newcastle players was at half-time, Howe said: “The message was that we are very much in the game and to keep passing the ball. We felt like we were giving them problems. Our athleticism was really strong today. We started the second half really strongly.
“There were a number of set plays throughout that we probably didn’t do as well as we should have done, On another day I think that game looks very different. 4-1 looks very comfortable and I don’t think it was for Liverpool.”
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