Newcastle United coach, Eddie Howe has said his wards will need to be near perfect to stand any chance of stalling Liverpool’s Premier League title march as both teams battle today at Anfield.
His side moved into fifth on Sunday with a chaotic 4-3 victory over third-placed Nottingham Forest, but Howe was unimpressed by the way his team surrendered a 4-1 lead.
Newcastle have won eight of their last 11 league games but lost three of the last five, suffering heavy beatings at home to Bournemouth and away at Manchester City.
It is an inconsistency that concerns Howe, and he knows there can be no lapses at Anfield.
“We need to be close to a perfect game from our perspective,” Howe said at his pre-match press conference.
“Learning from the recent game against Manchester City would be a good starting point for us where we didn’t execute the aggressive game plan that we wanted.
“We need to learn from that at Anfield which is a great environment to play football in but not good if you’re not totally there. We have to acknowledge that and make sure we turn up. Psychologically it’s huge. It’s an emotional stadium, we’re going to need to start well and have a threat in the game,” he said.
