Eddie Howe insisted his Newcastle side weren’t very high defensively at Anfield on Monday night, despite Liverpool smashing the Premier League’s attacking record with a 4-2 win over the Magpies.
Liverpool’s 7.27 goals against United are the most goals scored in a Premier League game, and their 34 actual shots scored are also the most this season.
Martin Dubravka’s outstanding goal for Newcastle was influenced by Jurgen Klopp’s men scoring just four goals.
Howe was disappointed by the goals conceded but did not believe there was a structural problem.”I don’t think we’ve necessarily been transparent,” he said. “It doesn’t help when you get two penalties.
I didn’t expect it to be two penalties and the second one was very weak.””Of course, there were times when we didn’t defend well. They also had a lot of long shots.”
It’s hard to comment now, I think we’ll have to look again, but this is a team that tests you in every way. “I know I will be under pressure and miss opportunities, but I have to think about those moments.”
Howe has suffered two major upsets since being confirmed by Liverpool and was injured against Sunderland.Only one of Newcastle’s key players has returned to Liverpool.
Newcastle have conceded seven goals in their last two Premier League games, but when asked if he was worried about their defence, Howe said: “It’s more because people look at the goalkeeper and the back four, but overall the team is doing well. ”
And I don’t want to sit there and make excuses because you’re tired of writing, but half my team is ready and that’s the truth.”It changes. How many strikers can be substituted in today’s match? “It’s a difficult situation.”
He added: “I think we didn’t handle the ball as well as we wanted to. We gave the ball away too much under pressure and created problems at times when we could have played under their pressure.
We scored two goals in one of the toughest places to play in the Premier League and we should have done that before the game. “We had to play good defense to win the game,” he said.
