Eddie Howe Newcastle United press conference pre Birmingham City

Shields Gazette

Dominic Scurr reflects on Eddie Howe's pre match press conference ahead of Newcastle United's FA Cup fourth round clash against Birmingham City.

Transcript

00:00Speaking to Eddie Howe ahead of Newcastle United's FA Cup fourth-round trip to

00:05Birmingham City on Saturday, after such a good game, reaching the Carabao Cup

00:12final with a 2-0 win against Arsenal at St James' Park on Wednesday night, this

00:18feels like a little bit the calm after the storm for Newcastle. It's an FA Cup

00:25fourth-round game, early stages for Newcastle against League One opposition,

00:29albeit very good League One opposition, they're flying high, you'd probably rather

00:32play a lower-end championship team than Birmingham City at the moment, but yeah

00:37it's a different sort of change of pace for Newcastle, going down to Birmingham

00:43you'd expect plenty of changes. Eddie Howe hinted as such, he didn't want to say

00:47his team, but mentioned players like Nick Pope, like Emile Kraft, like Callum

00:52Wilson, so Callum Wilson was an interesting one because Eddie Howe said

00:59Callum Wilson, obviously being out for the best part of two months, returned off

01:02the bench late on on Wednesday night and Eddie Howe said Callum Wilson feels like

01:07he's ready to start games despite being out for so long. The club and the

01:11player have been particularly careful with his recovery and Eddie Howe also

01:16said, and people might chuckle at this, is Callum Wilson is almost like a

01:21new signing, like a player who couldn't have got a player better than

01:26Callum Wilson in terms of a striker of his quality in the January transfer

01:32window, so in that regard, such a boost for Newcastle, with an asterisk though,

01:37it's only a boost if he stays fit and you go back to two seasons ago, Callum

01:42Wilson and Alexander Isak, both firing on both cylinders, both fit, both in good

01:47form. Newcastle reached the Carabao Cup final, ultimately didn't win it, but ended

01:53up carrying on momentum and finishing fourth in the Premier League qualifying

01:58for the Champions League, so it was so important in that. So Callum Wilson is a

02:01player who could come into the side, one player who won't be playing though, Sven

02:04Bottman, knee injury, just a knock though, Eddie Howe said, so after a player's out

02:09for 10 months with an ACL injury, you hear a knee injury and you almost fear

02:13the worst, but no, not serious, it's the other knee as well, just a knock, you'll

02:19miss the Birmingham game but will be assessed ahead of Man City, could end up

02:23missing that game too, but again, not a serious knee injury for Sven Bottman.

02:28Other players who'll be out, Harvey Barnes, Joe Linton and Jamal Sells, also

02:34sidelined for the game, so that's pretty much it. Another player who you expect

02:40would come back in naturally after exactly the same amount of time out is

02:45Callum Wilson really, it's been nine weeks since his last

02:50start for Newcastle, he's been an unused sub the last three games, Nick Pope as

02:55goalkeeper, obviously historically, when he's been fit, has been Newcastle's first

03:01choice goalkeeper, so does he come back in? It almost naturally lends itself well

03:06to Nick Pope coming back into the side, an FA Cup game where Eddie Howe is going

03:13to rotate his squad significantly, or start in XI significantly, and Nick Pope

03:18is obviously a very good keeper in his own right, and Eddie Howe said Nick Pope

03:22will be keen to almost remind everyone of how good he is, and getting games

03:27and getting back that feel on the pitch in between the sticks will be important

03:32for him, so I'd expect to see him back. Callum Wilson's another one, the midfield

03:36almost picks itself, you rotate it, the likes of Lewis Miley, Joe Willock, Sean

03:40Longstaff, all available. Right wing position's an interesting one, where

03:44Jacob Murphy's the only natural right winger in the team, and left winger as

03:49well, there's no natural replacement for Anthony Gordon, so do you keep him in?

03:53And right back, another position where you're looking and go, well,

03:59Kieran Trippier played very well on Wednesday night, does he need a run of

04:03games now, do you keep him in the side, or do you go, well, Tino Livermento didn't

04:08start the game, the other night he'll be fit, ready to come in just a few days

04:12later as well. So, choices, and Emile Craft's another option as well, which was

04:17something I asked Eddie Howe about. Emile Craft obviously came off the bench to

04:21replace Sven Botman in the side, that was his first appearance for Newcastle

04:25since October, he's obviously had his own injury issues as well, Emile Craft, so

04:29could we see him as well? So, plenty of decisions Eddie Howe will have to make

04:35ahead of the trip to Birmingham City, and to be honest, it's another chance for

04:40Newcastle to go four in a cup competition. FA Cup hasn't exactly been

04:43particularly kind to them over the years, the Carabao Cup, they've managed to build

04:47up a bit of momentum, get to two finals, a quarter-final, they reached the

04:51quarter-final of the FA Cup last season, but came up against a good Man City side,

04:56and then a few years before that, again, quarter-final against a Man City side,

04:59been a while since they've reached a semi-final or final, I think 20 years

05:03it's been since that semi-final against Manchester United, best part of anyway, so

05:09this is a competition Newcastle will be looking to get to the latter stages of,

05:12and if Wednesday taught us anything, it's that feeling of reaching a final, getting

05:17to Wembley, and potentially ending that trophy drought, it's such a powerful

05:22feeling, and again, it's early stages of the Cup competition, but you've got to

05:26win these games, it's a must-win for Newcastle in the sense that it's a

05:29knockout game, so we'll have all of it to come, all of Eddie Howe's reaction to

05:33come, what he said in the media centre this morning over on the Shields Gazette,

05:38as well as all the reaction and build-up to tomorrow's game, Saturday's

05:42game at St. Andrews, so I've been Dom Skirr, we'll see you there, cheers.

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