Eddie Howe explains 'tough' Newcastle United decision - 'I will talk to him'

Eddie Howe has explained the decision to bring Lewis Miley off just 37 minutes into Newcastle United's 1-0 defeat against Luton Town.

Former Magpies winger Andros Townsend opened the scoring in the 25th minute and the Hatters threatened to run riot with Ross Barkley and Elijah Adebayo almost immediately doubling their lead.

In an attempt to regain some control, Howe decided to switch formation and brought on Alexander Isak as a No.10. And unfortunately for Miley, he was the one sacrificed.

The 17-year-old has played a lot of football of late, despite his tender age. Indeed, the Stanley-born midfielder has started eight of the last nine games, something Howe was mindful of.

Asked if it was a tough decision to take Miley off, Howe replied: "Not really to be honest because controlling his minutes is something I wanted to do anyway.

"It wasn't based on his performance, it was based on a tactical decision so there's no problem. He's so young and we want to control how much he plays.

"I will talk to him of course. It wasn't something I planned to do, it was something that was very much an instinctive decision in the moment because I felt we weren't good in the game and needed to make a change."

Howe then reflected on a poor first-half performance that he felt cost his side. United's defeat at Kenilworth Road was their fourth straight league away defeat.

Newcastle have only won once on the road this season and that was the record-breaking 8-0 victory at Sheffield United in September.

"Very disappointed with the performance today," Howe told NewcastleWorld. "I thought first-half especially we weren't where we needed to be.

"We knew this was going to be a very difficult game, we knew the whole day was going to be tough really because of the game and how Luton play - they're a strong team. And also the emotion of the game.

"And I don't think we dealt with that well."

Newcastle are back in action on Boxing Day when they host Nottingham Forest at St James' Park. In contrast, Howe's men have won eight of their nine matches on home turf in 2023-24.