NOTTINGHAM, England (Reuters) – Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe praised the versatility of forward Joelinton, who was the catalyst for a come-from-behind 3-1 Premier League victory over hosts Nottingham Forest on Sunday that moved his side into the top half of the table.
Forest led 1-0 at halftime but a superb second period from the visitors saw them score goals through Alexander Isak, Brazilian Joelinton and Harvey Barnes to claim a deserved victory.
“Joelinton is like gold dust because wherever you put him, you know he’s going to do a good job,” Howe told SkySports. “His attitude never changes in training. He’s playing in different positions, so he has to do the training. I’m really pleased again with his performance.”
Howe said he hoped his side could find some consistency in the coming matches after an indifferent start to the league campaign.
“The Premier League is really, really tight this season and you need consistent victories and it can really elevate you,” he said. “Everyone is searching for a formula that guarantees them victories. We’ve looked much more like ourselves in the past few games.
“I still feel there is more to come and we can improve.”
He was, though, not pleased with the first half from his side, when they looked passive and allowed Forest to take the lead through Murillo.
“Hopefully they are a significant three points for us. We desperately didn’t want to fall flat today. It is a tough ground and team to play and to come from behind as well, it’s a really good day for us,” Howe said.
“I felt we were slightly inconsistent -– I wasn’t that happy with our first-half performance. It was a bit slow and not direct enough. The passing was a bit sidewards.
“I wanted to see more energy and more sprinting and more direct duels. We were turning down opportunities to attack and that isn’t like us and it suited Nottingham Forest.”
(Reporting by Nick Said; editing by Clare Fallon)
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