As we get to the business end of the Premier League season, all 20 clubs are in action over the next three days and a host of managers are talking today. Keep track of all the news here with Daily Mail Sport…
Howe: I’ve got the fire to carry on
Eddie Howe says he wants to stay on as Newcastle boss and has confronted doubt over his future by insisting he has the ‘fire’ to lead a summer rebuild.
The head coach acknowledges the club are approaching an ‘end of cycle’ moment, with star players likely to leave.
Howe’s own position has been called into question amid a run of seven Premier League defeats in 10, leaving the team 14th in the table. There has also been a feeling that the 48-year-old will assess his and the club’s situation come the end of the season.
However, Howe came out of fighting on Friday and, while admitting he would walk away if he thought it best for the club, he says that moment has not arrived.
‘In terms of my fire, my fire is burning very, very strongly,’ he said. ‘That’s no guarantee from my side what’s going to happen in the future, because the forces that move in football clubs move quickly. But my fire is there. There’s loads of wood stacked up and I’m ready to put it on.’
He added: ‘I just want to serve the club and do what’s right for the football club. That’s always been my aim. If that’s me leaving to help the club, then of course that’s something I’ll do, I’ve got no issue doing that. It’s not about me. But if I believe I’m the right person to take the club forward, which I do currently right now, then I’ll do that and I’ll fight to the end. I’ll fight harder than I’ve ever fought before.’
Chief executive David Hopkinson revealed this month that players will have to be sold to fund summer business, fuelling talk of Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Tino Livramento moving on. And Howe has addressed what this summer could like look for the club.
‘There’s a few players out of contract and you’ve got some big players who have done amazing things for the club maybe entering their final few months of their time here,’ he said. ‘You’ve got possibly players leaving in the summer and that natural evolution on that side, which happens at a football club.
‘So, I can understand why “end of a cycle” might be used. I think the key thing for the football club, and for me as the manager, is to make sure we come out stronger for it. That’s with smart decisions, good decisions and good recruitment. However the next few months look, it’s about making sure we’re stronger, and to do that you need your processes and departments in place that can run that in an elite way.’
Howe was also asked how the growing negativity among supporters has affected him of late.
‘I know it’s there but I don’t dive into it,’ he said. ‘I can only assume what’s being said and it’s OK, it’s fine. It’s not real, in my opinion, because I’m looking at people whose opinion I respect and if someone has to tell me something they will tell me.
‘As I’ve said so many times, I know what I am, I know my strengths, I know my weaknesses and I can look at myself very cleanly in the mirror and know that I’m giving everything. As long as I can do that to myself, no one else can make anything worse for me.
‘But yes, you know it’s out there, existing, but I don’t give it any time. I focus on my players and my team.’
Meanwhile, Howe has warned any player that he will not pick them if he feels they are not committed to the cause.
‘One thing I’m not going to do is, in any way, play a player, any player, if I don’t feel they’re 100 per cent committed to the club and to its future,’ he said. ‘Because that commitment, that resolve, what a player gives the team has to be total.’
Craig Hope
Ekitike will come back stronger, says Slot
Arne Slot has backed Hugo Ekitike to come back even stronger from a long-term Achilles injury – and says the blow vindicates Liverpool’s much-critiqued decision to splash cash on two No 9s.
The Reds paid £204million, including potential add-ons, for Ekitike and Alexander Isak in the summer but Slot has scarcely had the luxury of choosing which one to play given a long-term injury apiece.
Liverpool believe it has been rotten luck for the club and Slot said: ‘Someone said to me the day after (Tuesday’s game against Paris Saint-Germain), you cannot write the script that on the day Alex is back after four months the other one leaves the pitch with a long-term injury.
‘But it is a good thing Alex is back now even more, although it wouldn’t be the first game I have to play without a particular type in a particular position. I have had many games this season where I didn’t have a right full back available.
‘It is nice to have Alex back but we also know he is not ready to play 90 yet.’
Isak missed three and a half months with a fractured fibula and has not been fully fit since his British record arrival. Now Ekitike is out for the rest of season, World Cup and probably a significant chunk of next term with a ruptured Achilles.
Slot said: ‘He hasn’t been operated on yet. It is devastating for him, coming to a new club and having such an impact straight away. Your first thoughts are always with him, being out for such a long time and missing out on so many special moments.
‘He is not the first and he will not be the last player who will experience something like this at the start of his career and there are so many examples of players that have come back even stronger.
‘That’s the challenge he has now and I’m 100 per cent sure in 10 or 15 years he will maybe even say, “this injury helped me become even stronger and even more ready to perform at an even higher level than before”.’
Slot added: ‘It is a good thing we have signed two No 9s because there were a lot of people who were debating why we signed two No 9s.
‘We thought maybe it’s a smart idea not to be the only club in the world that has only one No 9 and that’s why we signed two and now all of a sudden that looks good and now people are maybe questioning if we should sign another No 9!’
The Reds contest the first-ever Hill Dickinson Stadium Merseyside Derby on Sunday and will be without full back Joe Gomez, who went off in the defeat to PSG with a muscle problem. Alisson is stepping up his recovery from a hamstring issue but remains a doubt.
Lewis Steele
