MusaEddie Howe insists his glass remains “half full” going into the festive period as serious doubts over Newcastle United’s chances of success in the Premier League this season crept into the fanbase.
Howe admitted that he could look to tweak things in the January window but feels his side are showing the signs he is looking for to improve going into 2026. For all that, Newcastle have now won just six of their last 19 Premier League matches under Howe’s guidance and remain in the bottom half of the top-flight table.
When asked if he felt he was getting closer to finding solutions for his ailing Toon team, Howe – who takes his side to Old Trafford on Boxing Night – told Chronicle Live: “I don’t think we necessarily have just problems – we have strengths as well.
“My glass is very much half full presently. I know everybody else might have a different opinion but I feel we are improving.
“I feel we are moving in the right direction and we have lots of work to do to be the team we ultimately want to be. That is to be consistently winning.
“That is what has eluded us this season, the ability to put winning runs together, which I think is the defining thing we need to do.
“But I was really happy with the performance against Chelsea for the majority of the game.
“So I think we are going to have to work on the training pitch for the limited time we get this season and keep looking to improve defensively, and of course keep working on our chance creation.
“The positive from Chelsea was that it was the best we have looked in terms of creating chances, big chances especially.
“We looked a real threat.”
But putting aside the 4-1 win at Everton in November, Howe’s team have spluttered on their travels this term with bad defeats at Brentford, West Ham and Brighton denting their league position. The Magpies have earned 17 points at home compared to the paltry six points on their travels.
When asked why his side have shown good intensity levels at home but not away, Howe, speaking ahead of the clash at Man United, said: “Yeah, that’s the question, isn’t it? Yeah, I’d say we’ve been inconsistent at times.
“Our away form early season especially, although we were very good defensively, certainly in terms of our attacking output, we were way below the levels that we know we can.
“I’d say that’s steadily improved. You know, you go back to the Everton game, which wasn’t so long ago, where we scored four goals and we looked a real threat in the game.
“We put together there a really good performance.
“Of course, the Sunderland game is a real dip in our recent games. Our one game in seven where, for me, we haven’t performed at all. So the challenge is to hit those levels that we know we’re capable of, home and away.
“I believe we can do it, and I believe the confidence is returning internally that we can do it. Now we have to show it.”
Newcastle beat Man United home and away last season, but now tackle Ruben Amorim’s side in patchy form. Howe said: “Our record has been good against Manchester United in recent games, but that counts for nothing in this game.
“It will be another independent game and as we say, they’ve improved, they’ve been really strong in the games – even the game at Aston Villa, where they didn’t win in their last match, I thought they were really strong and produced a good performance
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