Eddie Howe watched on as Newcastle United won away at Aston Villa.
The final scoreline reading 3-1 to United but that doesn’t tell the half of it.
The basic facts are that Newcastle trailed at the break.
Then the final scoreline reading Aston Villa 1 Newcastle 3.
Eddie Howe reflecting on how Newcastle United made it through to the FA Cup fifth round.
The Newcastle United Head Coach on a first half, where with no VAR in use, we had to ‘rely’ on the match officials.
Eddie Howe: “That was certainly a tough first half for us…obviously we have got the benefit of replays on the bench and you can see what’s right and what’s wrong. We felt really aggrieved in that first period, that every decision seemed like it was going against us. The officials don’t make any [wrong] decision on purpose. It’s what they think at the time. But without VAR, I thought there was a lot of errors today. The game moves at a very quick speed and I think the referees and officials are making honest decisions, but they have got them wrong on more than one occasion against us, and unfortunately for us, it was sort of building up negatively for us.”
As Chris Kavanagh and his assistants went from bad to ever worse, you worried that one or more of them might end up getting sent off themselves, in the face of such incompetence and injustice.
Eddie Howe: “I thought that the players did really well to control their emotions, to stay calm, not let it affect our performance negatively. And that is not easy to do in that situation where you feel aggrieved, so I think that certainly helps our performance in the second half. The overriding feeling is that we are really pleased to be through. It was great character from the players to come back from a losing position. It is tough to win here at the best of times but being a goal down, I think we did well when we conceded that we didn’t allow the goal and the decision that allowed it to affect us and destabilise our performance. It felt like it was one of those games that every decision was going against us. Our players did well to control their emotions and not get themselves sent off for something. The penalty for handball, I could see it from where I was.”
If ever a match proved the need for VAR, it was this one.
Eddie Howe talking about the use of technology and what happens when it isn’t there: “I think that there is an argument to say that, because when VAR is there, there’s always a, ‘Well, I won’t give that, but let’s check it’…And I think then your decision making maybe isn’t as sharp as it may normally have to be, so maybe there is a difference there. I am always torn on VAR because I still love the emotion, even tonight, when a goal is given and you don’t see a flag or a referee, [you know] it’s a goal,and no one’s going to take it away from you. That joy that you get in that moment, I still really love, VAR takes it away. But then on the other side, I was wishing there was VAR on the first goal against us…and probably throughout that game. I think it does give accurate results. It does make the game more concise in terms of decision making and those moments, you have to respect that they’re worth their weight in gold, especially for us today, when we’re on the wrong side of it, so I’m still very much torn on it.”
Newcastle United into the fifth round.
Eddie Howe asked if he fancies going a lot further…: “It would be amazing. We want to go as far as we can and we always take the cups seriously. There is a a massive prize at stake, the competition will really hot up in the latter stages, no easy draws for us.”