Your new team, recently flush with cash, are winless and bottom of the Premier League. You test positive for Covid on the eve of your first match in charge. Your centre back gets sent off eight minutes and 52 seconds into a must-win match against your relegation rivals for hauling Teemu Pukki to the floor. You are Eddie Howe and this is your life.
Norwich City’s mini-revival, sparked by the deposed Daniel Farke and continued by his successor Dean Smith, ensured that while only a place above Newcastle in the table, they arrived in the north east three points better off than their hosts. This was a match that neither side could ill afford to lose; and one that Newcastle absolutely had to win.
As Howe took his seat in the home dugout for the first time since his appointment three weeks ago, it felt as though the club’s new era was finally underway. But then no new era can really begin while Ciaran Clark is playing in central defence. Or with seven-goals-in-82-Premier League games Joelinton smashing speculative shots high into the stands from 30 yards out.
When Fabian Schar went to ground clutching his hamstring after 22 minutes, Alan Shearer, part of Amazon Prime’s all-star ensemble for this week’s midweek bonanza of football, uttered knowingly “welcome to Newcastle, Eddie.”
The bulk of Newcastle’s players find themselves in the odd position of playing for a club that has no real use for them beyond the short term. Keep the club in the top-flight and many of them will be rewarded with a place on the transfer list, sacrificed for more high-profile and ultimately, more talented, replacements. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has grander ambitions than scrapping with Norwich City.
But if Newcastle’s players could be forgiven for feeling uncertain at what the future lies in store for them, they certainly didn’t play like it. This was a spirited, determined display that, while not enough to yield a crucial three points, should at least instil a bit of confidence moving forward. The regret is that they had to play 81 minutes plus eight extra a man light.
There was a split-second as Pukki sought to sprint free of Clark after his attempted clearance had clattered off his chest where the same message seeped into the collective consciousness of every single Newcastle supporter: “Don’t do it, don’t do it…” they urged Clark. Their appeals were in vain. Allan Saint-Maximin stood 50-yards away, turned his head away in disgust as Pukki flopped to the floor from Clark’s tug.
From must win, the game became a must not lose. Newcastle stood firm, restricted Norwich to half-chances and inexplicably took the lead via Callum Wilson’s penalty just past the hour mark, which squirmed agonisingly over the goal-line after Tim Krul had palmed it onto the underside of the crossbar.
At that point, with Norwich labouring, it looked as though they might just pull off the unthinkable. But just as Delia Smith fell asleep in the stands, the visitors roared back into the contest. Pukki smashed in his fifth league goal of the season on the volley to level 11 minutes from time before Martin Dubravka spared Schar’s blushes by denying Pierre Lees-Melou from point-blank range after the Swiss had gifted him a gilt-edged, injury time opportunity.
Within the context of the game, there were positives to be taken. Howe isn’t renowned for extracting defensively dogged displays from his players, but for the most part, this was. Clearly, there is a buy-in from the players. Joelinton, for all his unconvincing attacking qualities, toiled heroically.
But it was a result that pushed Newcastle further away from where they want to be. They are now only the fourth team in Premier League history to go their first 14 games without winning a game; the other three were all relegated. The window for attracting the right calibre of player in January is closing fast.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3rqbIII
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