The battle with Barcelona is just the latest in a string of experiences which Newcastle believe will make them better
Eddie Howe during the Champions League clash against Barcelona
Newcastle United’s season has not gone anywhere near how Eddie Howe planned it but the Magpies manager believes everything that the squad and coaches are going through will only make them stronger.
Newcastle sit 12th in the Premier League table, below arch-rivals Sunderland and nine points away from fifth spot, which could be enough for a Champions League place next season.
Inconsistency has severely hampered United, who have shown in plenty games that they are capable of hitting the heights – matching Barcelona twice, holding European champions PSG, beating Manchester City at home and reaching the Carabao Cup semi-final among the highlights.
Too often, however, they have been punctuated by poor performances in which standards have slipped, either as a result of fatigue, individual errors or tactical issues.
Howe admits he is still learning, always leaning on every experience to help make himself and his players better. There’s certainly been plenty of those experiences to digest this campaign.
While he isn’t happy with the way the season has panned out, Howe believes performances like their Champions League last 16 first leg showing against Barcelona prove that they remain on the right track. The Spanish champions and La Liga leaders were outplayed for large chunks of the game at St James’ Park, only for Newcastle to suffer heartache at the end with Lamine Yamal’s injury-time penalty.
It meant a night of plusses and negatives again for Howe, but one he believes will make Newcastle better in the long run.
“It’s really important because there’s no better confidence-builder that underlines really what you are doing than the performance on the pitch. That tells you everything.
“We showed a lot of quality [on Tuesday] in all phases of our game. That hasn’t always been the case this season, it’s been a really challenging campaign for us with a lot of ups and downs, highlighted really again [against Barca]. And obviously in the good, there’s a down in there as well.
“But what we are really good at is absorbing that and trying to use that for the future and that’s another experience we’ve gone through and we need to use that to make us better.”
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