Eddie Howe has assured the clutch of players who can't get into his team that he still believes in them. The Magpies boss has Bruno Guimarães, Dwight Gayle, Jamaal Lascelles, Sean Longstaff and Miguel Almiron currently on the sidelines.
But due to the nature of the team's unbeaten run in the Premier League - which now stretches to eight games - Howe was asked about his dilemma. The 44-year-old will see Newcastle's excellent run of form, which has quite rightly saw him nominated for manager of the month for February, put to the test in Hampshire.
The Toon boss said: "It doesn’t mean I don’t believe in the players I’m not using, that’s the key thing. I believe in them and I believe they can all play a huge role in the future, but I’ve just got to deal with the here and now.
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"We'll look to make the right decisions for the team. I think with the run we’ve been on I’ve been reluctant to change things because the team had lacked rhythm for a long time so when you get it you want to try and enhance not disrupt it."
Howe also stated that he does not pick his teams based on the fact they picked up a good result in the last match. The former AFC Bournemouth boss is yet to give Bruno a start since his £33.5million move from Lyon.
Howe said: "What you don’t want to do is pick the same team because you’ve won the game but tactically have a problem in the next game. You have to be careful not to go blindly into the next match.
"We’ve picked the same team but we’ve adapted in games because the challenges are different."
But by the same token he admits he must reward good performances, he said: "I think it’s a very important message. I think if players come into the team and think that even if they perform they’ll come straight out again then there’s no reward for that performance. That’s something I wanted to try and create."
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