00:00Newcastle United suffered a damaging defeat against a struggling West Ham side on Sunday in the Premier League, halting the momentum that the Magpies had started to build in the last couple of weeks with wins both domestically and in Europe.
00:16Newcastle were in a similar situation last season following a loss away at Brentford that triggered a lot of soul-searching at the club and ultimately inspired them on to win the Carabao Cup and qualify for the Champions League.
00:29Whatever was said behind closed doors back then will likely have to be said again following this loss at West Ham to make sure that Newcastle head towards the festive period with the wind behind them and not against them.
00:42Ahead of their next fixture, which comes in the Champions League against Athletic Club of Bilbao, Eddie Howe will certainly have relayed to his players that they must respond, but that they must also be much more consistent going forward.
00:56And that big performances cannot just be saved for the big games. To be successful again, they need to compete in all games and on all fronts.
01:05Given the loss against West Ham, Howe made clear that man management is very important to make sure that he speaks to individual players in the way that suits them best.
01:15Yeah, I think man management is very, very important regardless of whether you're winning or losing because both can be equally difficult.
01:22So yeah, I think I try to be very active with the players all the time, very community in all kinds of scenarios, obviously going into a game.
01:32But I like to think I'll talk to the majority of the players about what's expected of them going into the next game.
01:38So yeah, a lot of work done the last few days.
01:41And just how much of a frustration is it to you that when you're going from weekend game to midweek game to weekend game that you're losing that training time given how much you enjoy being out on the training pitch?
01:51Sort of got used to that I think throughout this season and the season before last in the respect that the training literally does fall away and your training is sort of very small bursts.
02:04I think the difficulty really in that scenario is for the players that aren't playing regularly because they're missing out on the training and the games.
02:12So they have a tough season, I think mentally. I think for the players that are playing, it's slightly easier because you're just going from game to game if they're playing regularly.
02:22The challenge for us is to prepare the games well. As I say, the training becomes less important.
02:29Dan Byrne admitted that Sunday's defeat was not good enough, but backed his teammates to bounce back in a similar fashion to how they did against Brentford last season.
02:38Yeah, I think the gaff I sport about, it's just sort of about having like honest reflection. I think it's very easy to just sort of look over results like that and just think, oh, it's just one of those games.
02:48But I feel like we've always been very good at being honest with each other and talk about where things aren't going well or places we can improve.
02:56And I think, you know, the manager and the staff now well that they'll do absolutely everything possible to make sure that doesn't happen again.
03:03And there has, obviously with Brentford last year, I know Bournemouth at home last year, we had some bad results.
03:08There's every season that we've been, yeah, there's been sort of that result where it's been a bit of like a wake up call and think like, come on, like we need to get back to what we're doing.
03:18And then we've went on some pretty good runs. So I said, it's nothing that I feel as a group we're worried about.
03:23Obviously, I'd love to be sat here and we've won every single away game, but that isn't the case.
03:28So for us, it's just about how we respond and work towards getting the win tomorrow.
03:34And bridging on one of your previous answers, despite the fact that you're not playing perhaps where you'd like to be playing in terms of the team at the moment,
03:39has this been the most enjoyable part of your career perhaps this calendar year?
03:43Yeah, got to be. I think the sort of play the amount of games I've had and obviously the cup final and scoring and we're winning that and playing international football and representing my country.
03:55This has definitely been the sort of best calendar year I've had and I don't feel honestly that I'm peaking yet.
04:02I still feel as if I'm getting better and physically I feel good. So I just want to make it continue as much as possible.
04:10This game will be a welcome one for Newcastle. Bilbao have significant injury problems and the Magpies will look to exploit that to help regain their confidence.
04:19Of course, Newcastle need to do more than just regain their confidence. They need to become an aggressive and determined side once again.
04:27They have shown flashes of that this season, but have not demonstrated it enough. Anyhow, and Dan Byrne will certainly know that.
04:35And even if they succeed in beating Bilbao, they must also attack Brentford with the same passion, which is next up in the Premier League.
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