{"id":345009,"date":"2025-08-14T22:49:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/345009\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T22:49:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:49:34","slug":"alexander-isak-situation-isnt-irretrievable-matthew-syed-meets-eddie-howe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/345009\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Alexander Isak situation isn\u2019t irretrievable\u2019 \u2014 Matthew Syed meets Eddie Howe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journalists shouldn\u2019t as a general rule flatter their interviewees, but let me say up front that Eddie Howe is a driven, thoughtful and highly impressive head coach. Sitting with him at Newcastle United\u2019s training ground, having chatted for an hour or so with a fascinating group of players, was to gain an insight not just into Howe himself, but also the transformation in the beautiful game over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

Howe, who took over at Newcastle in November 2021, himself is in the vanguard of this transformation, a coach comfortable with data, science and well read in the literature of company culture and leadership. The 47-year-old talks about a manic week as he has juggled the \u201cIsak situation\u201d<\/a> (which I\u2019ll come to later), the signing of Malick Thiaw (he had a last-minute meeting on Tuesday night, which scuppered our plans for dinner) and a crucial morning of training in the build-up to \u201cDay One\u201d, as they call the start of the new campaign, which starts against Aston Villa on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Outside the sun is shining brightly: it is now Wednesday morning and the time approaching 11.15am. The players are standing around a mobile big screen adjacent to the training pitch as Howe \u2014 who has been at the ground since 6.30am \u2014 runs through footage of Villa. He talks to the players like grown-ups. There is no shouting like a sergeant-major (Howe told me his players are \u201chighly intelligent, highly driven young men. You don\u2019t reach the top without a high football IQ\u201d). The analysis is supported by curated video clips, played on cue by the tech staff, as the players observe intently. They can discern the logic of what is being explained, nodding along, and then they are off into three groups \u2014 defenders, attackers (and a central defender), and midfielders.<\/p>\n

\"Malick<\/p>\n

Howe greets Thiaw, the Germany centre back signed from AC Milan this week<\/p>\n

SERENA TAYLOR\/NEWCASTLE UNITED VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Unlike some head coaches, Howe is central to the training itself. He walks with the attacking players to a pitch peppered with mannequins placed in strategic positions and vocally drills them in the patterns required to find the gaps in the Villa defensive structure. Even an outsider like me can perceive the formations being rehearsed, although I am (at first) a little bemused by the philosophy. I whisper to James Bunce, the performance director (whose job is to act as an interface between Howe and the sports scientists): \u201cThis isn\u2019t going to work, is it? You can\u2019t ingrain patterns against mannequins. Don\u2019t you need opponents to make it realistic?\u201d Bunce smiles. \u201cKeep watching,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Eddie<\/p>\n

The hands-on Howe works on team shape and positioning during the pre-season tour to South Korea<\/p>\n

SERENA TAYLOR\/NEWCASTLE UNITED VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

I quickly discover that this is a cumulative, layered session \u2014 the cornerstone of Howe\u2019s coaching methodology. After 30 or so minutes, they return to the big screen to delve into the tactics in greater detail. Now I grasp why Howe arrived at the training ground so early: he has been finding clips from the previous day\u2019s training session (captured by high-flying drones) to further instruct the players. In the next session, on a smaller pitch, he elaborates the patterns further, but with higher tempo and the players now opposing each other in teams of five or six.<\/p>\n

I had heard from a few insiders that Newcastle\u2019s training sessions are unusually intense, but nothing quite prepared me for this. The pressing, crossing and tracking back is relentless, channelled into a series of 2\u00bd-minute bursts, before Howe offers a minute or two of further instruction (what one of his assistants described as \u201cthe drip-feeding of tactics\u201d). The word that jumps into my mind as I watch is \u201clean\u201d: this is a training session designed for maximum, concentrated impact.<\/p>\n

Finally, the players return to the big screen for the last time for a more complete tactical overview of the Villa game before setting up in two teams of 11: one side has been instructed to play as Newcastle, the other as Villa. The patterns are now internalised and a truncated contest takes place, again at impressive intensity. At the end, the winners (in the pink strip, if I remember correctly) are ushered to the side of the pitch for a group photo. \u201cWe want jeopardy in the practice match,\u201d Bunce explains, \u201cso we celebrate the winning team in each training session.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/p>\n

The England forward Gordon shows the intense work ethic that caught Syed\u2019s eye<\/p>\n

HARRIET MASSEY\/NEWCASTLE UNITED VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

I chat to some of the players as they walk off. Anthony Gordon\u2019s work ethic was a revelation (even in a squad who each put in a shift), which I mention to him. \u201cThat\u2019s good to hear,\u201d he says with a smile. \u201cIt is a crucial few days so you have to give it everything.\u201d Emil Krafth, the Sweden defender (who turned out to be a dab hand at table tennis after lunch), says: \u201cThe first match of the season is always important for morale.\u201d Travis Hernes, a 19-year-old midfielder from Norway, says: \u201cIt\u2019s a club with an incredible culture. You can probably already see what the gaffer is building here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howe takes a deep breath as we sit down for lunch after he has debriefed his coaching staff. This has been an unusually challenging summer at a club who do not have either a sporting director or a chief executive officer, which has meant that Howe \u2014 already the presiding figure at the club \u2014 has been stretched further than ever. And, of course, looming over everything has been the shadow of the \u201cIsak situation\u201d, the phrase everyone at the club has taken to using, not to mention Newcastle fans about the future of their star striker. \u201cHe\u2019s such a terrific player,\u201d I say rather tritely of Alexander Isak. \u201cIs the situation irretrievable?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word irretrievable isn\u2019t really in my dictionary,\u201d Howe replies. \u201cI think communication is going to be the key. At the moment, we are in a position where he is not available but I\u2019d like to think that we will be able to reassess as the situation develops further. I think that he will always recognise that this is a very special team and a very special club. It\u2019s been a tough period because a lot of the media attention has been negative, which is difficult on the players. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe narrative spreads. We are trying to challenge that and to say to the squad, \u2018We are OK.\u2019 Yes, we are currently minus one massive player but we don\u2019t yet know how that situation will change. But everyone here is fully committed and that is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Newcastle<\/p>\n

Isak scored as Newcastle won the Carabao Cup under Howe<\/p>\n

SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL<\/p>\n

Can you find someone to replace Isak during what remains of the transfer window, I wonder? \u201cWe have a bit of time,\u201d Howe says. \u201cThe issue we have is that we haven\u2019t just lost Alex [Isak] but also Callum Wilson from last season so we are definitely actively looking to recruit. We have a really good recruitment team but as you know we are missing a few key appointments [the absence of a CEO and director of football] so it\u2019s been a challenge. Our recruitment at the club has so far been really strong.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t help wondering if it is difficult to fully focus on training sessions with so much happening off the pitch. \u201cYou make a good point. It is probably true that the bigger impact can be had elsewhere but all I can control is here,\u201d he says. \u201cI have to make sure that my mind is absolutely focused on the 25 players who need my love, care and attention rather than players who we haven\u2019t actually signed yet. As a coach, one of the most important parts of my job is to get the best out of every single player and to improve them as much as I can. That is what I love doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Spectators<\/p>\n

The late Anne Howe at the Vitality Stadium during her son\u2019s first spell as Bournemouth manager<\/p>\n

RICHARD CREASE\/BOURNEMOUTH ECHO\/BNPS<\/p>\n

I move the conversation on to Howe\u2019s background and am not surprised that he distilled much of his character from the example of parents; in his case, a remarkable mother. \u201cMy mum had five children. I was the fourth. Very humble upbringing. She struggled financially to support us all. Single parent. She had to do three, four, five jobs. She was always working somewhere. You talk about my getting up early in the morning, but maybe that\u2019s where I get it from. She had to get up in those days at 4am to do the papers for the local newsagent. She\u2019d come back, take us to school, then do a cleaning job, then work in a leather shop, selling leather goods, in the afternoon, then pick us up from school and look after us in the evening and goodness knows what else. So I used to see that sometimes when I was off school. I guess it must have rubbed off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is she still alive? Howe pauses, perhaps to compose himself. \u201cNo, she passed away suddenly when I was 34, just after I took over at Burnley [his second job before returning to Bournemouth in 2012 where stayed for eight years]. So she saw that I had started my management career. And, you know, there\u2019s something really weird about that. My grandad was another big person in my life. He and my mum were the two big role models. And they both said to me when I was young, \u2018You are going to be a better manager than you are a player.\u2019 And I\u2019d be like, \u2018I don\u2019t want to be a manager. I just love playing the game.\u2019 But they both said it separately, \u2018You are going to do really, really well as a manager.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

\"Eddie<\/p>\n

Syed and Howe<\/p>\n

CHARLIE HEDLEY FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back, I find it strange because I was like, \u2018You are mad! I am too shy. I am not that person.\u2019 I was so shy growing up that the phone would ring and I wouldn\u2019t even answer it. My mum would say, \u2018You are going to have to speak sometime.\u2019 but I would reply, \u2018I\u2019ll do it in my own time.\u2019 Sport was a bit of a saviour because it helped me to develop self-esteem and give me a lift. I was the best at football in the school and good at cricket too. But Mum and Grandad obviously saw something in me that I didn\u2019t necessarily see in myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

I ask how he met his wife [he is married with three children] and he laughs. \u201cNot glamorous to be honest,\u201d the former Bournemouth defender says. \u201cI was at a nightclub with a friend and I saw her. I was on crutches because it was just after I suffered my serious knee injury and I kept looking over but she didn\u2019t seem interested. It was only later that I found out her eyesight isn\u2019t very good over long distances so she hadn\u2019t actually noticed me. My friend broke the ice and we got together. She doesn\u2019t know much about football, but if I have any big issues, she\u2019s the person I seek out. She\u2019s brilliant to talk to.\u201d<\/p>\n

We continue chatting: about family, about football, about life (I get the sense that he is using our conversation to wind down a little before an intense burst of meetings later that day). Indeed, I end up leaving so late that I almost miss my train back to London. Howe and Newcastle may struggle at times this season, particularly in the early matches, given the absence of Isak. But there is no doubt in my mind that this is a singular coach who is leading an impressive group of young men, almost all of whom have grown under his guidance, not just as footballers but also as human beings. And what, in the end, could be more important than that? <\/p>\n

Aston Villa v Newcastle United<\/p>\n

Saturday, 12.30pm
TV<\/b> TNT Sports
Radio<\/b> talkSPORT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Journalists shouldn\u2019t as a general rule flatter their interviewees, but let me say up front that Eddie Howe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-345009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115029565208305456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}