Eddie Howe makes ‘obvious’ admission after Newcastle United’s defeat to Aston Villa

Eddie Howe admits his Newcastle United side were ‘off it’ in all aspects of the game during their heavy defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday.

The Magpies suffered a setback in their bid to land a Champions League spot on Saturday, falling to the heaviest defeat of their season so far against Aston Villa. Newcastle were off the mark from minute one at Villa Park, and they paid the price with a 3-0 defeat, rarely testing Emiliano Martinez at the opposite end.

The defeat gives Tottenham the chance to move level on points with Howe’s men later on Saturday, although Newcastle will get their game in-hand back at that point. What will surely concern Howe more is the performance his men put on against Villa, with usually reliable stars like Kieran trippier and Sven Botman given the runaround.

And the Newcastle boss said as much in his post-match interview with BT Sport, admitting that his men were ‘off it in every discipline of the game’ on Saturday.

He said: “It was one of those performances for us where we need to analyse and then move on from quickly. We weren’t there today. I though Aston Villa played very well, I have to give them a lot of credit. But from our own high standards, we were probably off it in every discipline of the game, and when that’s the case, you are never going to win.

“We had our moments, as we do because we have good players, but no, we were not at our best today. I think that was obvious, from my perspective, from quite early. We tried to make changes to get a grip on the game, but nothing really turned the force in our way. It’s one to analyse but probably move on from quickly.

“We have a number of key games to come, and this was very unlike us, I have to say.”

Asked about Newcastle’s poor start to the game, Howe added: “We tried to make substitutes to change the game, we were 1-0 down and chasing the game. I think that tactically that left us a little more open, and they punished us, but I think we will look at ourselves and know we can do a lot better.”

The Magpies next face Tottenham in what will be a huge clash in the top four race, but this is not the time for panic, according to Howe.

“I don’t think this is the stage of the season to overanalyse with the players, because the games come thick and fast and they only get bigger,” said the Newcastle boss. “Hopefully, we can use this as a positive, highlight what went wrong and use this as a reminder of the basic fundamentals of our team, to see what we deliver when we play well, because we didn’t deliver them today.”