Gary Neville says Newcastle United’s “poor attitude” in Premier League matches has disappointed manager Eddie Howe. Despite currently sitting in the bottom half of the table and a long way off the European qualification spots, former Manchester United star Neville believes the Magpies’ tendency to loosen up their intensity has taken a toll on them this season.
During the match between Newcastle and West Ham, Neville observed that his team posed little threat to the goalkeeper in the second half, stressing that the players’ attitude was the big problem, rather than manager Howe’s serious shortcomings. While providing commentary for NBC Sports, Neville said: “They (Newcastle) really pissed me off.
“The last 20 minutes of the first half, and certainly the second half, they didn’t shoot for a long time in the game. I thought they really let the coach down. Eddie Howe is a great coach with a great record.”
“They have a lot of work to do and I think Eddie is reminding them that to win Premier League games you have to work hard and basically compete at an intense level every week.”
Neville has suggested that Newcastle’s players may be exposed following their strong performance last season, when they secured fifth place and won the Carabao Cup by beating Liverpool at Wembley. Experts suspect teams are noticing a drop in performance after big games and are exploiting it.
Neville continued: “The difference between the top and the bottom is big in some ways, but if you drop your effort and intensity, you’ll get caught very quickly in this league.”
“They were unbelievably exposed today. They were lethargic and leggy and I thought their attitude towards this game was very poor.”
Speaking about Newcastle’s disappointing league position, Howe admitted: “Obviously it’s worrying when you’re not where you want to be, you’re always chasing results.
“That’s where we are now. We haven’t found our rhythm in the Premier League. We’re not consistent. We’ve had some good points, but West Ham are bad.”
“We’re looking for consistency. When you move from competition to competition, the focus changes quickly. It doesn’t take long to get back into Premier League mode.”
