‘He’s deluded’ – Newcastle fans rip into ‘cowardly’ Eddie Howe over Bruno Guimaraes latest
Newcastle fans are all in agreement with Bruno Guimaraes’ views on their defeat at Sunderland rather than manager Eddie Howe.
Sunderland beat Newcastle 1-0 in the first Premier League Wear-Tyne derby since 2016 on Sunday as Nick Woltemade headed into his own net just after half-time.
Neither side attacked with much intent throughout the 98 minutes of action as it ended with the fewest shots (11) and the lowest expected goals (xG) total (0.54) of any Premier League match this season so far.
The Magpies will have wanted to make a statement at the home of their arch-rivals, but they went down without much of a fight as captain Guimaraes later called their performance “a mess” and admitted that their mentality was poor.
His comments have now been directly addressed by Howe as they prepare for a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Fulham, but his response has backfired massively among their supporters.
Howe hits back at Guimaraes’ post-Sunderland comments
There have been lingering doubts around Howe’s position at Newcastle after their poor summer window and start to the season, with the club still not near where they want to be, in 12th place as it stands.
Bruno’s comments were met with support on Sunday after fans felt he had been honest about the game and situation that the Magpies find themselves in right now.
Howe has now fired back to disagree with his captain, saying: “He was 90% right initially. I don’t think we were a mess, I don’t think the other parts of his original comments were wrong. But we weren’t a mess.
“We were very well organised, we just didn’t deliver the performance that we wanted to.”
Football Insider revealed after the Sunderland loss that Newcastle are still unlikely to sack Howe soon, but many fans may be happy to see him go after this latest public saga.
Newcastle fans side with Guimaraes as pressure on Howe increases
Taking to X after Howe’s response to Guimaraes, one Newcastle fan wrote: “I was on the fence, I wasn’t really Eddie out until now and seeing this! I think he’s honestly deluded and can’t see him finding a solution if he doesn’t see a problem. Bruno was right, Eddie is wrong.”
Another replied: “I’m with Bruno on this one. If that wasn’t a mess, I don’t know what is. No tough questions for Eddie though. Why was Barnes dropped? Why start Elanga? Why wasn’t Burn took off when it was obvious he was hurt? He never gets pushed in these pressers, fans are sick of it.”
While one added: “Completely disagree with Eddie. Bruno was spot on calling out how bad the performance was. Have a back bone and say it how it is.”