Tom Cairney has admitted that he found what Eddie Howe did during the first-half of Newcastle United’s clash with Fulham last weekend very clever.
Newcastle picked up an important win in their battle to qualify for Europe next year. Bruno Guimaraes scored the only goal of the game late on as the Magpies left Craven Cottage with all three points.
Fulham will definitely feel that they missed an opportunity. Marco Silva’s men had plenty of chances in the early stages. But they failed to beat Martin Dubravka.
At one stage in the first-half, Dubravka went down and needed some treatment. Of course, normally players who get treatment have to then leave the field for 30 seconds before coming back on. But that rule does not apply to goalkeepers.
That presented Eddie Howe with the chance to speak to his players and try and change the momentum in the game. And from there, the visitors did manage to improve.
Tom Cairney praises Eddie Howe for what he did during first-half of Newcastle win
Speaking on The Footballer’s Football Podcast, Tom Cairney shared what he noticed about what the Newcastle boss did during that time Dubravka was being treated.
“With the new rules if a player went down they didn’t have to go off. But with the new rules say Bruno Guimaraes went down and time wasted, I’m just using it as an example, but if the keeper goes down he doesn’t have to go off,” he said.
“So teams this season, I’m not saying Dubravka or Newcastle did this, but it felt like it in the game. They didn’t have a good start, we were on top after 25 minutes and Dubravka went down. I didn’t even see anything happen. And then all the Newcastle players went off to the side of the pitch and I could see Eddie doing whatever, quite animated for him, I had not really seen him like that to be honest.
“Our staff knew what was happening and were telling the fourth official to get on with it, we knew what was happening, but it kind of worked.”
Magpies finding ways to win towards end of difficult season
It has definitely been a difficult season at St James’ Park. Newcastle were vying for the top-four at this stage last term.
They were unfortunate to get knocked out of the Champions League. But they have certainly not made progress in the Premier League.
There have obviously been several reasons for that. But Newcastle’s form has steadied over the last few games, winning three of their last five league fixtures.
Howe has done enough to show that he deserves more time to try and lead Newcastle back up the table next season.
But clearly, the win over Fulham shows that there is still plenty of work ahead for the Magpies over the coming months.