Even when you’re on the up as Newcastle evidently very much are, there will still be players not happy with their lot.
The pressure on the manager is completely different when on the cusp of success compared to a relegation dogfight, but decisions still need to be made regardless for the good of the team.
As such, some players will be more content than others, but arguably that’s a positive.
If all of your players are hungry to play and challenging each other in training day in and day out, but only one gets the nod on match day, clearly that’s going to irk the other.
Particularly if each player has been training and playing to their maximum.
One choice that Howe had to make ahead of Newcastle’s opening match of the 2023/24 Premier League season, a game which turned out to be an absolute rout of Aston Villa, was whether to start with Alexander Isak or Callum Wilson up front.
The Swede was handed the start and Wilson didn’t take too long to have a bit of a moan about it.
“Was disappointed at first, as you are, first game of the season but all you can do is do your talking on the football field and I added to the goals for the team,” Wilson said on the Footballer’s Football Podcast.
Given that both Wilson and Isak got on the scoresheet in the game, one could argue that Howe got the call exactly right – again – and with that in mind, his players can’t really have too many other complaints.