Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has been speaking to the media before Wednesday’s Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen at BayArena (kick-off 20:00 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
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On team news, Howe says there are no injuries from the win over Burnley, adding: “Lewis [Hall] was ill before Saturday’s game, so we didn’t want to push him when he was fatigued, but came through the 30 minutes he played well. So hopefully both [Hall and Tino Livramento] will be fine.”
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Howe said that they “will be ready” despite the short turnaround, stressing that the squad is “excited” to play in a “great stadium” and is “looking forward to the challenge”.
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On Yoane Wissa: “He looks positive, his body language has been very good. He is ready to take on the minutes. Our challenge now is we have limited training time for Wissa. We have to get the balancing act right, but he showed his qualities in that 20 minutes, and he will only get better.”
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Howe revealed that he “will pick a team that is strong tomorrow and strong on Sunday as well”, when they face Sunderland in the derby. He admitted he has “a few injuries to the backline and it is an area of concern”.
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More on the concern for the defenders: “We don’t have the depth in those positions that we would necessarily at this time of the season.”
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Howe stated that he has been “relatively pleased” with their Champions League campaign and that “two defeats have had similar patterns in-game”, though he hopes to “avoid that empty feeling” after a loss.
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On Nick Woltemade: “He has done brilliantly. I have just had the pleasure of half an hour with him on the way here and he is a great person and a great character. On the pitch, he has done really well, he has fitted in superbly and really bought into the team ethos. We need to try and create more for him as a team, but the chances he has got he has invariably done well with them.”
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Howe also attributed Woltemade’s popularity to his personality, highlighting the forward’s “British humour” and praising the way he is “approaching” the transfer to Newcastle in “a very good way”.
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On Malick Thiaw: “Malick has done incredibly well. For a defender, you almost want to go unnoticed because you’re doing your job. He has been cool, calm and collected, very good with the ball, but most importantly very good defensively. Long may that continue.”
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