Bruno Guimaraes' vote of confidence on captaincy and Joelinton substitution explained

Newcastle United boss has indicated that Bruno Guimaraes requires time to adjust to the role of skipper at St James' Park.

Howe was asked by Chronicle Live how Bruno was coping mentally with the commitments after a tough shift against West Ham in which he was substituted after an uncharacteristic mistake and an injury knock. Having played in 64 competitive matches last term for club and country, Bruno has again been on his travels at the start of this season with frequent trips across the Atlantic to pull on a Brazil jersey in the World Cup qualifiers.

Howe told us today: "Mentally I think Bruno has been really strong. I think he's had a lot to cope with. Never underestimate the impact of playing for a country like Brazil. For any athlete there is intense pressure, a lot of travel. And then he comes back here where he is captain which is also a big demand on him but I think he has relished that. It has been slightly different for him so there has been a period of adjustment."

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Bruno's record as captain in the Premier League reads five wins, three draws and four defeats. But Howe is expecting the dynamics to work smoothly as the season goes on.

The disciplinary tightrope going into a long hard winter

Having got Dan Burn back out the sin bin, Newcastle are skating on thin ice when it comes to Fabian Schar and Joelinton who are both on the brink of suspensions and sitting on four yellow cards.

But Howe has indicated he won't ask his players to change their ways. He also revealed that the reason he withdrew Joelinton against West Ham was to preserve him for tomorrow's clash at Selhurst Park.

Howe said: "It’s a difficult one to go into too much detail on that with the players as they need to be free. Joey needs to be free to play his game and one of his biggest strengths is his ability to win the ball and cover every blade of grass and to be physical with his opponents.

"Part of the reason that I withdrew him on Monday was to make sure we had him for the next day. He is such a pivotal figure for us. With those guys, the likelihood is that they will get booked before the cut off point but that’s why we have the squad."

The duo have another seven games to get through with a yellow card before the winter cut off point.

Eddie Howe only after one present on his 47th birthday

Eddie Howe said he would delay birthday celebrations with his family until after this weekend's clash with Crystal Palace. There was no cake in the Press room n Friday morning and Howe was in business mode as he rattled through questions in just 22 minutes.

When asked if he'd been in the mood for celebrating on the back of the West Ham loss, Howe said: "Sometimes when I wake up I feel older than 47 when I get out of bed. The body has taken a bit of a hammering in my life with a number of injuries over the years.

"Mentally, I feel younger than 47 but you can tell me how I look. You might say I’ve looked after myself. Presents wise, I haven’t had anything so it will be at a later date once the game is out of the way!"