ELLAND ROAD — The smell of the flare lit in the away end had only just cleared the nostrils when Eddie Howe and his players stood in front of the delirious chaos that was the away end at Elland Road, drinking in the acclaim.
There have been some grim days for Newcastle United this season, even in the wake of a transformative takeover that lifted expectations and unlocked possibility in the January transfer window. This, by virtue of their resilience, endeavour and reserves of energy, was not one of them.
Howe clenched his fist as he departed down the tunnel. This was a huge win for Newcastle and for the manager himself, who has been working 12-hour days laying the foundations for a revival which had stubbornly refused to bloom.
“We hope to use this as the turning point for our season,” he said afterwards.
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In truth his record of one win in nine Premier League games is scant reward for the subtle tweaks Howe has made to the way Newcastle play, breaking with more pace and direction. The team’s shape looks sturdier – just two goals conceded in three Premier League games and a first away clean sheet of the campaign – and the midfield control he has been working on at the training ground is beginning to bear fruit.
Simple conditioning seems to have improved as well – Newcastle able to stop Leeds, in Howe’s words, from “blowing them away” in a chaotic second half.
“Fitness is a key fundamental for me, it’s still something we’re working on. It’s difficult to do in season,” he said. “Our athletes in the team came to the fore.”
Howe was never under any pressure from Newcastle’s supportive co-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, who have witnessed the meticulous nature of his work trying to right a ship that was listing badly under his predecessor.
But the embarrassment of defeat to Cambridge in the FA Cup and then a laborious draw against Watford prompted introspection. Talk of good weeks on the training ground sound empty when the team can’t buy a win.
On Saturday it said much that the big performers were those Howe needs to coax displays out of. For all the talk of importing a new team of expensive recruits, Newcastle need those written off to strain every sinew for the cause. It was another feather in Howe’s cap that Fabian Schar, Ryan Fraser and Jonjo Shelvey, the latter sweeping home the winning free-kick, were the chief beneficiaries in the win at Leeds.
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The turning point in the game came when Newcastle began to break up Leeds’ heavy metal pressing, Kieran Trippier snuffing out Jack Harrison’s threat while Raphinha faded from prominence.
For Howe, it makes the club’s mid-season training break in Saudi Arabia a much more comfortable proposition.
That trip has brought familiar, awkward questions about Newcastle’s new owners back to the club’s front door. But it will be easier to stomach with a victory that eases pressure and opens the door for the club’s transfer negotiators to bring in reinforcements before their next match – another clutch contest in an increasingly congested relegation battle against Everton.
“There will be signings,” a senior source said. There’s optimism that the countdown to deadline day will focus minds on the offers Newcastle have made and dissuade some of the wilder demands being made of a club that is now blessed with huge funds but determined not to stray into paying wild fees.
The Saudi PIF want value. “Wood and Trippier were magnificent for the team. I thought they made huge contributions to the match and that’s the power if you can get recruitment right, you can elevate the team,” he said.
Howe said afterwards “nothing was imminent” in terms of recruitment. But with nine days to go before the deadline that will surely change soon.
For Marcelo Bielsa, the regret arrived with acknowledgement that his team had chances to change the narrative of the game. “Very frustrating,” he admitted. More worryingly, he confirmed there’s no timeline yet on the return of talisman Patrick Bamford.
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