Howe critical of Newcastle players after draw with Leverkusen | OneFootball

Eddie Howe says his Newcastle players lacked belief in their 2-2 Champions League draw with Bayer Leverkusen.

United had led 2-1 after coming from behind thanks to goals from Anthony Gordon and Lewis Miley, but Alejandro Grimaldo struck late on to rescue a point for the home side.

“I wasn’t happy at half-time, not so much with the performance but there was a real lack of belief that we could score,” the Newcastle boss told TNT Sports.

“You have to make things happen and really believe internally. Off the ball, we were getting close to them but not in that final yard.”

Howe also pointed to his team’s disappointing defending, adding: “Goals are events that happen in games and we haven’t defended the two well enough.

“Regardless of timing, the first one is a disappointment for us. Set plays made our night very difficult.

“The second one, I’ll need to see it again, but it looked like it was too easy for them to go through the middle of our defence so we need to look at it.”