Eddie Howe finds himself in Catch 22 situation at Newcastle United

With the score 1-1 and penalties looming on Wednesday night, Eddie Howe replaced Yoane Wissa and Joe Willock with Nick Woltemade and Sandro Tonali.

Eighteen minutes later (plus added time), Newcastle United were through to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, again.

Many people having Sandro Tonali as a contender for man of the match despite his short stint on the pitch, the Italy international was here, there and everywhere on the pitch. Driving United forward and putting out fires whenever Fulham threatened to turn the tide.

The former AC Milan player topping off his performance with an assist for the winning goal, his corner headed home by the excellent Lewis Miley.

This perfectly summed up the current Catch 22 situation for Eddie Howe with Newcastle United.

If say Newcastle hadn’t got that late winner and Fulham had won on penalties, then the conversation would have been very different after the match.

I have no doubts that journalists and countless Newcastle United fans would then have been demanding to know why Sandro Tonali hadn’t started this cup quarter-final, blaming Eddie Howe for the defeat.

This of course would be totally overlooking the fact that Sandro Tonali hasn’t reached his usual levels in recent matches and wasn’t great when playing the first 59 minutes at Sunderland.

You are always dealing with the hypothetical when analysing post-match, wondering what would have been the outcome if the team selection had been different.

My best guess is that Sandro Tonali wouldn’t have had the same positive impact if starting against Fulham. The visitors had put out pretty much their best available team, whilst Eddie Howe had made six outfield changes.

My belief is that by giving Tonali this rest for the first 70+ minutes of the match, then meant that we got fresh Italian maestro who dominated a tiring Fulham midfield and was able to drive the team forward and inspire them to victory.

Bottom line is, this was an occasion where we got far more out of Sandro Tonali by playing him for 20+ minutes, rather than putting him on the pitch from the start for 90+ minutes.

Nick Woltemade also looked a very different player on Wednesday night, than he had performed at the weekend, and I am not just talking outrageous headed goals…

The striker clearly also enjoying coming on for those final stages against Fulham and far more of a threat (to the opposition goal…).

I just think Newcastle United fans in general, have to be far more understanding of the huge challenges facing Eddie Howe. So many matches across four competitions and a real balancing act in how he uses his players.

I often hear Newcastle United fans questioning why Eddie Howe hasn’t started players, when they are on the bench. The reality is that you can’t play the same starting eleven every match, especially when the team are playing every midweek as well as weekends.

You also don’t know what Eddie Howe does, all of the information he has from fitness analysis and expert opinion from the medical staff.

Eddie Howe revealed after the win over Fulham, that Joelinton has been an unused sub against both Sunderland and Fulham, due to the fact he is nursing a groin issue and was only to come onto the pitch in extreme circumstances.

The NUFC team boss has a real juggling act in the weeks and months ahead, selecting what he considers the right team for each match, based on all factors.