Eddie Howe celebrates following a vital victory for Newcastle in the Premier League (Image: Getty)
Eddie Howe has praised the extraordinary effort of Newcastle defender Sven Botman after he marked his eagerly-anticipated return with a strong display in a 2-1 win at .
Fabian Schar’s suspension meant Botman was thrust into the Magpies line-up to make his first competitive appearance since March following anterior cruciate ligament damage.
Botman had played an hour for ‘s Under-21s last month and featured in other behind-closed-doors matches but was immediately up against it in his comeback display after beat him to Pedro Porro’s cross to put Spurs ahead in the fourth minute.
fought back to claim a sixth consecutive victory in all competitions through first-half goals by Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak, with Dutch centre-back Botman able to produce an assured display to cement the club’s fifth-place spot in the .
“I wouldn’t play him if I didn’t feel he was physically ready,” Howe explained. “He has been very dedicated to his recovery. We’ve seen him put in an extraordinary amount of work before he started training with us.
“He has been training with us now for six weeks, I think. He has had three games and looked good in those games. Of course he won’t be at his optimum level but that will come in the following months.
“I thought he was physically ready to play and mentally ready to play because he’s been champing at the bit to be involved again. A difficult start for him and the team because scored, but a great response and I thought he did very well.”
The latest win for increases confidence ahead of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at .
Howe again stuck with the core group of players at who have helped the North East club rise from 12th to fifth in the over the last month and acknowledged they need to be at their energetic best against ‘s title-challenging side.
He added: “We’ve started to win games, so I’ve been very reluctant to changes things and unbalance what has been working for us. Sometimes even within a game that has been evident that I haven’t wanted to change the dynamic too much unless I feel like I absolutely have to.
“We need to assess how the players feel and certainly need energetic players for .
“It will be a physical game, a very quick turnaround but it is the same for and if anything they have had a harder schedule the last few days, so let’s see how we feel.”
, meanwhile, have dropped to 12th after they suffered a fifth defeat from their last seven league fixtures but Postecoglou was proud of his team given they were without 10 players and remains steadfast in his belief of bringing success to the club.
“I have never lacked confidence,” Postecoglou insisted. “I get that the results aren’t there and I get that whether people want to accept the situation we are in, but you saw the performance of Archie (Gray), you saw Lucas (Bergvall), he was unbelievable as an 18-year-old to play in that position.
“I just see so much to be positive about but we need to win games of football and usually when you play well, you do most things right, you get the rewards. Unfortunately we were denied.”