Eddie Howe left Nick Woltemade and Lewis Hall out of his Newcastle United starting XI for the win over Brighton & Hove Albion.

Eddie Howe was forced to defend his Newcastle United team selection following the 3-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.

There was a negative reaction online when neither Lewis Hall nor Nick Woltemade were named in Howe’s starting XI.

Will Osula and Dan Burn gave the Magpies a 2-0 lead at half-time before Jack Hinshelwood pulled one back for Brighton on the hour-mark.

Hall was introduced not long after and created a golden opportunity that fellow substitute Yoane Wissa squandered before Harvey Barnes made sure of the victory deep into stoppage time.

Woltemade, meanwhile, remained on the bench having now gone seven weeks without making a start.

Eddie Howe defends his Newcastle United team selection

In response, Howe said: “Of course, with the team selection, you're never 100% sure on the team. You go into the week, so I'm very open. We've played Arsenal, we've performed well. I'm very open.

“I go into the week and I go ‘right see how the players train’. For me, training is a huge consequence to the team that I pick because I have to reward good performances, good attitude, and commitment during the week. I can't just base it off perception.

“I then need to see it delivered, and that's why obviously, from a supporter's perspective, they don't get to see that, they're not party to those training sessions, and I place a big emphasis on that.

“So, of course, last performance, training, I then make my decision, and I make my decision on different days, sometimes Thursday, Friday. But once I pick the team, I'm totally happy with it, and win, lose or draw, I accept my fate because I've picked it in good honesty with the intention to win the game.

“There's no politics involved with me. It's what gives us, in my opinion, the best chance to win the game, and then, of course, I let the players know.”

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Malick Thiaw was the only summer signing to start the game as Howe selected players he ‘can really trust’. That included Nick Pope, Sven Botman, Burn, Bruno Guimaraes, Joe Willock and Jacob Murphy, all of whom played a huge part in securing Champions League qualification three years ago.

Howe added: “I went with players that I can really trust, that I know can handle this kind of atmosphere and this kind of pressure. But I'm not picking the team based on emotion, I'm picking the team based on what I think gives us the best chance of winning the game.

And those players have never let me down and they didn't today. I thought they were all outstanding in different ways. The balance of the team, of course, is important because you need different qualities to hurt an opponent.

“We went with real pace up front. That was the plan. With Osula and Willock, to really try and stretch them, especially on transitions, and I thought that worked well.”

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