Eddie Howe does not think Newcastle United would have hammered Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium if the game had been played in front of a crowd because his players ‘haven’t adjusted’ to the ‘feelingless’ of football behind closed doors. Newcastle United ran riot at the Vitality by scoring four goals in a match where the Dorset based team completely looked out of their depth. Howe was quick to admit that his side never recovered from the opening goal but insisted that the game lacked “emotions” without the crowd.
Eddie Howe said “I don’t think my emotional energy is in doubt day to day, I think the problem we have is the games themselves are not emotionless but feelingless without the crowd and I think that’s damaging us greatly at the moment. I think if we had conceded the early goal today, I think the response from the crowd would have helped us. I don’t think there’s any way that game would have ended up the scoreline it was. But in a feelingless game, when we know how much is at stake, it’s very difficult for the players to adjust to that and certainly we haven’t adjusted well enough to that. I think that’s probably been our biggest failing so far. The games and the feeling of the games is certainly something that’s damaged us.”
