EDDIE Howe has admitted his concern at Newcastle’s lack of goals after watching them pass up a chance to move into the top six of the Premier League.
The Magpies went into Monday night’s clash with West Ham at St James’ Park looking for a fourth successive win in all competitions that would have seen them climb to within a point of fifth-placed Brighton, but emerged on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline.
Howe’s men have scored just 13 times in their 12 league games to date, having finished the last two seasons with impressive tallies of 68 and 85 respectively.
Asked if that current return was a concern, the head coach said: “Yes, it is. I can’t say anything other because it’s the most important aspect of the team.
“We need to score, we need to feel that confidence, to feel that belief, and we’ve had that for such a long time.
“I still feel we’re creating though, and I think that’s always the main thing. I don’t think (against West Ham) you would have begrudged us scoring a couple of goals with the moments that we had.
“But we’re probably still not as fluent as we have been previously, and so that’s stuff for us to try to fix.”
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Howe was happy enough with what his side produced for the opening 60 minutes of Monday night’s game despite the fact they conceded twice during that period. Tomas Soucek powered home a 10th-minute free-header before Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s first Hammers goal effectively sealed the points eight minutes after the restart.
However, they misfired badly in front of goal with striker Alexander Isak, who had scored in each of his previous four games, enduring a particularly frustrating evening after having an early effort disallowed for offside.
Too often, they were let down by a poor final ball or finish, the reason for which is something Howe, who has injury doubts over midfielders Bruno Guimaraes and Joe Willock, hopes to identify and address before Saturday’s trip to struggling Crystal Palace.
He said: “Well, that’s the big question, isn’t it? I think a lot of that is potentially down to individuals’ form, their execution, their confidence in those big moments – and for me, we’ve had big moments (in Monday’s game), we’ve had the opportunities.
“Of course, then if you take those, then more come off the back of it. That’s how football always works. That’s how it worked for us against Nottingham Forest in the last game.
“There’s nothing like goals to create confidence in the group, and you only get confidence, for me, from hard work and training and making sure we rehearse and refine what we’re doing, so that’s what we have to do.”
