Eddie Howe reveals Newcastle United star’s apology after Brentford win

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has confirmed Anthony Gordon has apologised for his reaction in the aftermath of his late substitution in last weekend’s win at Brentford - and insisted he has ‘no issue’ with the former Everton star.

Gordon was named among United’s substitutes for the game at the Gtech Community Stadium and was called into the action at half-time as he replaced Jacob Murphy. The England Under-21 winger put in a lively display during the second-half as he played a part in helping his side overturn a half-time deficit to claim a 2-1 win that kept alive their hopes of securing a place in next season’s Champions League.

However, Gordon had been replaced by Matt Ritchie by the time the full-time whistle had been blown as Howe chose to send on one of his more experienced players deep in injury-time. The decision seemed to provoke an unhappy response from Gordon as he passed Howe in his technical area - and the United manager has revealed he understood why the winger reacted in the way he did.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa, Howe said: “We’ve had a conversation. His enthusiasm, aggression, motivation levels are really, really high and he’s fiercely determined to do well and achieve, and it is one of his hallmarks, it’s one of his strengths. We want to embrace that, we love that about him. But in certain moments, he needs a cool head as well, so it’s about trying to explain the situation, talk through it. I’ve got no issue with him at all. He’s trained really well this week.

He continued: “He felt the need to apologise. Part of me understood why he acted like he did. I didn’t condone it. You don’t want to see any player react like that because, suddenly, you will have a team that looks like it doesn’t have the discipline that it needs. I made a decision based on Anthony going down holding his ankle, based on the fact there were seconds left on the clock, to try and do what I felt I needed to do to win the game. He needed to accept that and, if he had an issue, come and see me in private. That’s how I felt he should have reacted in that situation, but it’s a young player learning about the game and learning about us at the same time. I’ve got no issue with him.”

Howe confirmed no further action had been taken against Gordon and the winger is available for Saturday’s visit to Villa Park.