Jordan Cronin attended Eddie Howe's pre-Newcastle United vs Nottingham Forest press conference. Here Jordan discusses the main talking points.
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00:00I'm here at Newcastle United media centre. I've just been speaking to Eddie Howe ahead
00:05of Sunday's massive Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest at St James' Park. I'm in
00:10the dugout here outside at Whitley Park because it's a little windy on Tyneside this morning
00:16so I've retreated in here so you can hear what I've got to say if you are interested
00:20about that. But yeah, Eddie Howe spoke about injuries, returning players and just how big
00:25of a game it is on Sunday as I mentioned there. Massive one for Newcastle United. But
00:30we'll start on the injury front and the injury I suspect you all want to know about is Sven
00:35Bottman. Sven Bottman picked up a knee injury in the Carabao Cup win over Nottingham Forest.
00:41He's since missed the last two games against Birmingham City and Manchester City. Eddie
00:45Howe suggested last week that he might be back for this one on Sunday but that isn't
00:49the case or in a remarkable recovery Eddie Howe said over the weekend. So Eddie Howe played
00:55down for you as Sven Bottman had sustained a long-term knee injury. The issue he's got
00:59is actually in the opposite knee to the one that he did against AC Allen last season.
01:04So yeah, another week required for Sven Bottman. We'll see if he will be back. I think it'll
01:10be the Brighton game now next week because they play Liverpool in midweek. Based on what
01:14Eddie Howe said, I don't think Sven Bottman will be back for that one. But yeah, Brighton
01:18will be reassessed. So yeah, it's a blow not having Sven Bottman because it gives you that
01:23flexibility to play those three centre-backs which Eddie Howe tried to do at Manchester
01:28City out of possession on Saturday. But of course, that didn't quite work. Can you check
01:33that dropping as the third centre-back isolated for the goal. But yeah, can Sven Bottman there
01:37gives you three proper three centre-halves and we've seen how effective that was against
01:41Arsenal in the Carabao Cup. But yeah, it's Sven Bottman's absence doesn't really allow
01:45Eddie Howe to do that. And yeah, you might have to go or stick with the three in midfield
01:52which he's done quite a lot of his time at Newcastle. But Joe Linton's injury is an issue
02:00in that midfield because usually it would be Joe Linton, Tonali, Bruno, but of course
02:04Joe Linton still ruled out with a knee injury. He's progressing well but again, similar to
02:11Sven Bottman, I'd imagine he'll hopefully be back for the Brighton game, their game
02:16on Sunday and then their game against Liverpool. It's too soon for the Brazilian but he is
02:20progressing well and yeah, in that centre midfield, who do you bring in? Because Joe
02:27Willock got the nod against Manchester City last week but then was brought off at half-time
02:33because Newcastle just didn't have any kind of control in that game and City were dominating
02:37Newcastle. Lewis Miley came on and gave Newcastle some real control. I know Manchester City
02:42took the foot off the gas but Lewis Miley's performance was a real positive from that
02:48game and a game that was full of very few positives and I do wonder if this is the game
02:52where Lewis Miley is reintroduced back into the start 11 because the last Premier League start
02:58was 12 months ago now. Obviously in that time, he picked up a back injury. He'd also picked up
03:04a broken metatarsal in the off-season as well. But since, from about October onwards, he
03:09obviously returned, played a couple of minutes in the Carbide Cup win over Chelsea, was then
03:14played on this pitch behind me here at Whitley Park to get minutes in the under-21s because it
03:18was a struggle to get him into the first team because, as I mentioned, those three midfielders,
03:21their performance were well. But since then, since the turn of the year, he's started two
03:29games in the FA Cup against Bromley and Birmingham City and he's come on as a substitute in quite a
03:35few Premier League games as well. So I do wonder if this is Lewis Miley's opportunity to come back
03:40into the team. Just another injury update. Jamala Sells was suggested last month by Eddie
03:47Howe, or last couple of weeks anyway, that he could be back next month, which is March,
03:53but Eddie Howe has now said that his return will be closer to the end of the season. So,
03:58yeah, a big blow for Jamala Sells. You know, you'll be focused on his recovery, but you do
04:04wonder if that maybe is Jamala Sells playing his last game for Newcastle. He's out of contract
04:09at the end of the season, I suppose. To earn a new contract, you've got to play. And, yeah,
04:16being backed towards the end of the season might not give the minutes that Jamala Sells needs to
04:22prove that. So he might have played his last game for Newcastle, but I don't think he really
04:25thinks about that. He'll be focused on his recovery over 12 months out with the ACL injury.
04:31Sven Botman, in many ways, was lucky that he came through his recovery with no hitches,
04:35because I think it's going to be a lot more complex than for Jamala Sells.
04:40Sorry, I just had to take a break there because he has eaten probably yarn. The reason why I'm
04:43laughing here is because the plastic around the dugout here at Whitley Park is being hugely
04:51affected by the wind. So I hope there you just hear what I was saying there. If not, I do apologise.
04:55So, yeah, looking ahead to Sunday's game, as I say, a huge one. Newcastle can either close the
05:02gap to Nottingham Forest in third place to three points, or they can end the day nine points behind
05:06if they lose. Or, of course, it could stay the same at six. But it's a real opportunity if Newcastle
05:11have got genuine ambitions to go and challenge that top four, then they need to beat Nottingham
05:16Forest. Because in the top four at the moment, you've got Liverpool, the runaway leaders,
05:20Arsenal, who will get Champions League. Manchester City, I suspect, will come strong in the latter
05:25stages of the season, albeit they got a bad result in midweek against Real Madrid. It feels
05:30like out of that four, Nottingham Forest is the most likely to drop. And, yeah, being able to close
05:36the gap is massive for Newcastle. Eddie Howe said that, and I asked Eddie Howe if he'd had a big
05:39game feel about it, and he said it would be a problem if it didn't. So for me, Newcastle have
05:43got to go and get a result. But there'll be two players, two former Newcastle players that'll be
05:49trying to stop them. Chris Wood, a man on fire, 18 goals this season, one more than Alexander
05:56Isak in the Premier League, only Mo Salah and Ian Horton have scored more than Chris Wood.
06:01And, of course, another one, Elliot Anderson, as well, who really is thriving down at the city
06:05ground. Look, going back to the Chris Wood deal, I think people would be lying if they said that
06:11they would regret selling Chris Wood. I think hindsight's a wonderful thing. Look, if you're
06:15going to predict that Chris Wood was going to go and score 80 Premier League goals this season,
06:19and more last season as well, you probably would have kept all of them. But at the time,
06:22Chris Wood wasn't scoring goals. He fitted the system, but he wasn't contributing the goals.
06:28Newcastle had Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson as back-up. That was their two main strikers,
06:33and Chris Wood was the third choice. And yeah, it made sense. It was good business for Newcastle,
06:37having signed him, I think, for around £25 million, to get £15 million back off him.
06:41It was a good move for Chris Wood as well, in terms of a longer-term contract,
06:45which he's just signed a new contract, and not a forest. So yeah, it just so happens that Chris
06:50Wood is going to have a very, very good time down at Nottingham Forest, and look, fair play to him,
06:54but I don't think we would have seen the same Chris Wood here had he stayed. And that goes for
06:58Elliot Anderson as well. Elliot Anderson, it was a real shame to let go of him. It was a massive,
07:05massive shame. But look, I've just mentioned, I'm talking about Lewis Murray trying to find
07:09a way at that midfield. I think Elliot Anderson would have the same struggles this season. Again,
07:13he wouldn't have seen the same player that was impressive at Nottingham Forest. But yeah,
07:17the thing with Anderson is he was young, he was a Geordie, Newcastle put a lot of effort into
07:21coaching him and getting him right. And yeah, it was almost sort of time wasted because he had to
07:26let him go because of PSR reasons. So I think it's a credit of all players that they're thriving away
07:32from St James' Park. Let's just hope they don't have a say on the result on Sunday,
07:38because yeah, Chris Wood did last year when he scored that break. Hopefully no repeat of that.