Newcastle United

Newcastle United

Premier League • England

Jones judges what Howe would make of Newcastle after Brighton battle

Graeme Jones pointing

Newcastle United interim manager Graeme Jones has not discussed the prospect of Eddie Howe succeeding him permanently with the club’s owners, but thinks the former Bournemouth boss should be pleased with what he saw from their game against Brighton.

Howe was in attendance at the Amex Stadium to see Newcastle claim a 1-1 draw. It seemed to be a clear signal that he could be the man to take the reins from Jones when his spell in interim charge ends.

It is believed that Jones will continue on the technical staff of whoever comes in as the permanent replacement to Steve Bruce.

That man now looks likely to be Howe, who would be returning to management for the first time since leaving Bournemouth in 2020.

After the Brighton draw, Jones was asked about Howe’s attendance. He said the prospective new boss should be happy with what he witnessed, after analysing the progress that has been made in his own short spell in charge of first-team affairs.

He told BT Sport: “I am aware of it. I haven’t no (had any conversations about it). The owners assured me three weeks ago that they still want me at the club.

“In my time in the last couple of weeks it has been a process. You have to start with solidity, which we did against Chelsea and today we were more on the front foot. You can’t go from the Tottenham game where we were wide open to playing like Barcelona.

“There is a process, we are still in it and I think if I were Eddie I would go away quite happy.”

Newcastle send scouts to watch Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz

Newcastle send scouts to watch Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz

Newcastle are stepping up their interest in Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz and have sent scouts to Germany according to reports, with more news on Jesse Lingard and Aaron Ramsey.

It wasn’t all positive for Newcastle though and Howe would have plenty to work on if taking charge.

Even so, Jones was pleased with the way his side reacted to the adversity of conceding a VAR-awarded penalty.

He added: “I wanted a win. Another VAR decision against us, it happens, I’m not disputing that but I’m talking about the reaction of the players.

“We have had some difficult moments this season but the group is together and you saw that with the response in the second half.”

VAR intervened again, this time in Newcastle’s favour, late in the second half. Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was sent off for bringing down Callum Wilson outside the box.

Wilson would have had an empty net to aim at had he not been clipped. Thus, it could have been a different story.

Jones thinks it would have ended as a goal. But he reminded his players that they have to keep working regardless of such incidents.

He said: “I can see Callum running that into the back of the net.

“Things have gone against us but no-one will feel sorry for you. You have to do something about it, that is the performance we got today.”

Potter pleased with point despite lesson learned

Graham Potter reacting during the game between Brighton and Newcastle

Meanwhile, Brighton boss Graham Potter gave his own views of the two key VAR incidents in his interview with BBC Sport.

On the red card, he said: “Not a great action from us, it is not great when Callum Wilson goes round the goalkeeper but something for us to improve on.

“Lewis Dunk is a centre-back but he has done it (gone in goals) before sometime in his career. The captain steps up. We dealt with it well going down to 10 men. The spirit was good and we tried.”

On the penalty, he added: “It looked like it was a penalty but it took a bit of time for the referee to see it. It is the right decision in the end.”

Overall, Potter was satisfied with the point, despite being aware that they themselves could have earned more from the game.

He said: “We played really well, controlled the game, forced them back, created chances and scored a goal. Newcastle were sitting deep and playing on the counter. Up to their goal, we had control of the game and lost our way a little bit.

“A lesson in this league, you don’t have to do too much wrong to concede a goal. But it is a point we will take.”

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