Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said he disagreed with some of Bruno Guimaraes’ comments after the derby day defeat to Sunderland, calling his outburst only “90 per cent” right.
Guimaraes slammed Newcastle’s performance as “embarrassing” and a “mess” but also demanded an instant reaction from his team in their Carabao Cup quarter-final with Fulham on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports.
In a later statement posted on Instagram on Monday in reply to his own emotional interview, Guimaraes stated that it’s time for the club to stay “united” and to refrain from blaming anyone for the defeat.
“I think Bruno’s comments, he was 90 per cent right initially,” said Howe.
“I don’t think we were a mess. I don’t think the other parts of his original comments were wrong. But we weren’t a mess.
“We were very well organized. We just didn’t deliver the performance that we wanted to. I think Bruno’s very emotional and that’s part of his success.
“That’s why he’s such an outstanding player for us and leader for us but it’s making sure our messaging is right to the outside world. The second statement he put across is 100 per cent right and that’s what we need.
“The mindset now is we can’t affect the past. We can only affect the future and we need to do that together.”
Newcastle’s 1-0 loss extended their winless Premier League run against their closest rivals to 10 matches in one of their poorest displays of the season. The visitors managed just two shots on target and an xG of 0.25.
Howe confirms Burn injury: ‘Our back line is vulnerable’
Howe confirmed he could be without centre-back Dan Burn for six weeks with a rib and lung injury sustained in the defeat to Sunderland.
Emil Krafth, Kieran Trippier and Sven Botman are also unavailable which has left Howe with a lack of options in the defensive line.
He said: “It went under the radar the importance of Dan and losing him, just for everything that he brings to the team, that was a big blow for us. I think he’s been excellent in recent weeks so yeah, it’s a rib problem with some issue with his lungs so we wish him well. It’ll be probably around four to six weeks.”
The back line’s an issue for us, we don’t have many injuries but we have a concentrated group of players that are out who all play the same position and whenever you get that you’re stretched so our back line is looking vulnerable. With Sven Botman we’re not entirely sure when he’ll return, he’s made good progress but I don’t think he’s ready to play yet.
“And then we’ve got Emil Krafth, Kieran Trippier still out and their target date will sort of be around the new year we think.”
Howe did reveal that goalkeeper Nick Pope is close to recovering from his groin issue: “I don’t think he is too far away. We will see how he is before this game and the game before the weekend.”