‘I’ve never seen Bruno do that better for us’ – Eddie Howe’s Southampton win

EDDIE HOWE praised Bruno Guimaraes’ ‘captain’s performance’ in Newcastle United’s 1-0 win over Southampton.

The Magpies claimed all three points on the opening day of the season despite having to play with ten men for more than an hour following the first-half dismissal of Fabian Schar.

Guimaraes was wearing the armband in the absence of both Jamaal Lascelles and Kieran Trippier, and the Brazilian midfielder responded with a superb defensive display that helped Newcastle dig in to claim a hard-earned victory.

“I was really pleased for him (Guimaraes),” said Howe. “Whenever you’re wearing the armband, you want the team to win, I’ve felt that pressure as a captain before. I think it adds a bit of a weight to your own performance.

“I think, for Bruno, the defensive side of his game was just so good, with Sean (Longstaff) and Joey (Joelinton), it had to be. All three of them contributed massively to that win.

“In duels, they were excellent, in covering space and working together as a three, they were brilliant for us. I think it’s something you probably associate more with other players in our squad, but Bruno’s defensive performance was as good as I’ve seen from him.”

On a number of occasions last season, Newcastle were let down by the quality of their defending, particularly away from home.

Howe accepts there is plenty of room for improvement on the back of yesterday’s performance, but was delighted with the way his side defended their 18-yard box amid incessant Southampton pressure throughout the second half.

“It (the clean sheet) was huge,” he said. “I think it’s the biggest area of growth. If you’ve been watching us over the last season, you wouldn’t need to be too clever to see that. With the amount of goals we scored, if we could tighten up defensively, we’d be a very good team. It was one game with a good response defensively, not just through the back four and the goalkeeper, but the whole team.

“I think (to improve defensively) what it will take is what we’ve seen today, that resilience and ability to dig deep. We didn’t do that well enough on our travels last year, for lots of different reasons.

“But the Premier League is the Premier League for a reason, it’s the best league in the world, the toughest league in the world, and you’re not going to get anything against any opponent. There should be no shock about how difficult games like today are to anybody. We’ll have days where we play better, of course we will, but it’s all about winning, isn’t it?”