Eddie Howe and Newcastle United set off for Portugal today for part two of the club's summer training camp - with the Toon boss hoping his squad can sharpen up in the final third.
The Magpies couldn't find a breakthrough against Mainz 05 in Monday's 1-0 defeat and didn't score in the first 45 minutes against 1860 Munich before eventually going on to win 3-0. Newcastle will two more chances to improve their goalscoring prowess during the trip to Portugal and despite setting off without another new forward through the door, Howe praised the frontmen he already has in Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin, Chris Wood, Ryan Fraser and Miguel Almiron.
Howe said: "We always want creativity, first day last day, we want to score goals and create chance, that's how we want to play. It was a difficult pitch, it's so hot and the ball is slow, so when you are the team trying to make the game that's not easy. But saying that we have very good players and should be doing a little bit better than we did."
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But Howe insisted it was not all about the final third and was pleased with the way his team defended in Austria last week as well as the efforts of his midfield.
Howe said: "We're working on all aspects of our game, we can't focus on one. We have to be very good out of possession, we have to be very good in possession.
"We were more controlled against Mainz 05 up until the last third. I thought we controlled transitions well and athletically we looked good despite the fatigue we've got.
"But yeah in front of goal we didn't create chances or open Mainz up. We played against a team that operate with a deep lock on a slow pitch, that's easier said than done, it was against good opposition and these are the tests you want. I'm not concerned by the defeat it's always about performance."
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