Eddie Howe is not under pressure yet but, three years on from a transformative takeover still making headlines, it feels like Newcastle United are.
Four games without a Premier League win can do funny things to a club like Newcastle. It is just a month since they could have gone top of the table with a win at Fulham but in truth that would have been a mirage, obscuring a few home truths that sorely need to be acknowledged.
After two good years on the field, 2024 has largely been a big struggle for Newcastle. Profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) – which we are told could once again impact the club’s spending in January – are one reason for that but a larger problem is developing with strategy and vision. There remains a caution about their work that is now catching them up on the pitch.
Take Saturday against Brighton. Newcastle played well and probably deserved to win but their issues were once again rooted in failures in front of goal and an overreliance on a patently under-par Alexander Isak.
We were told that without European football and with players back from long-term injuries this would be the year that Newcastle’s squad options would run deep enough to change games.
But the only striker change that Howe could make was in the third minute of injury time to switch Isak for the raw Will Osula, a player who would probably benefit from a season on loan in the Championship to hone his potential.
Callum Wilson, who has completed 90 minutes just once in 2024, remains on the sidelines rehabilitating an injury picked up in July. That was grimly predictable, as was Newcastle’s reluctance to do something dynamic to resolve what now looks like an accident waiting to happen.
The striker situation is not only the issue harming Newcastle. Teams are sensing vulnerability on the right-hand side, where the combination of Jacob Murphy and Tino Livramento is not delivering any sort of attacking threat. Brighton knew, as most opponents seem to, that if Anthony Gordon could be nullified Newcastle’s threat from the flanks would be minimal.
All of these represent big problems for Howe but they are not necessarily of his own making. Newcastle’s inability to deliver major upgrades in the last three transfer windows has left their manager needing to overperform to keep pace with contenders at the top of the Premier League. These are early days, but there are covetous glances at Aston Villa – a club that did manage to player trade to improve their squad.
The Magpies knew the assignment last summer after resolving their PSR problems in June but failed the exam. If the appointment of Paul Mitchell is a nod to their need to be more creative, it is a welcome addition to their recruitment team.
But there is now an awful lot of pressure on him to start disrupting a team that has gone stale, and so far the mood music doesn’t feel like a revolution is necessarily coming. Targeted signings is the word coming back – with a right winger the priority – but that was also the mantra in the summer and it felt like an abundance of wariness to move decisively in the market was a big part of the problem.
It is a message repeated all over the club – from delaying a decision on St James’ Park expansion while they do detailed due diligence to what feels prevarication over adding sponsors for the training ground, stadium and even training kit to boost their PSR position.
Fans still largely trust those at the top but there are signs of patience wearing thin. Worryingly Howe is starting to bear the brunt of some supporter criticism and those voices may grow louder with three tough, testing fixtures on the horizon against Chelsea twice and then Arsenal.
But it is worth remembering that Howe’s Newcastle are competing against teams that have largely improved in the three windows his Magpies have stood still. He deserves time – and support from above – to stop Newcastle from treading water.
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