Just when you thought Newcastle United had buried their summer of discontent, along comes a thudding reminder of it cloaked in claret and blue.
After four wins and a formidable stride towards the top four, being well beaten by a vulnerable West Ham side brings back a few of those nagging doubts about Newcastle. Eddie Howe does not do overreactions but that doesn’t mean he can ignore some of the alarm bells ringing in the background.
Watching Monday’s game slip from Newcastle’s grasp, you couldn’t help but wonder about the balance of a squad that has two world class midfielders not trusted to play together and a pair of left wingers who have been capped for England but can’t dovetail effectively.
That Newcastle have spent the vast majority of their PSR headroom on the quartet of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes – and yet they never play together – tells you that something has gone awry somewhere.
Either that or Howe needs to find a formula which, so far, has eluded him. To be fair to him, he has tried but those experiments have left Newcastle looking as imbalanced as they did in a tortuous second half at St James’ Park.
Watching from the executive seats, Paul Mitchell will probably have been feeling a little more emboldened ahead of an intriguing January transfer window.
He copped plenty of flak for speaking out about Newcastle’s recruitment missteps in September, but he had a point. In certain areas they are stacked, but in others they lack options and too often it hurts them.
Take the right of midfield. On Monday Howe tried Joelinton there and it didn’t come off, the Brazilian shunted into irrelevance in a game when Newcastle could have probably used his physicality.
Jacob Murphy did eventually come on but Miguel Almiron, who is up for sale in January, remains very firmly on the periphery.
Newcastle need a solution and would love to sign a player of Bryan Mbeumo’s quality. But PSR means that kind of transfer will either have to wait, or be counter-balanced by a hefty sale.
In the centre of defence – another area Newcastle tried to strengthen in the close season – they really suffered against West Ham. With Dan Burn suspended, Lloyd Kelly came in, providing a window of opportunity that the Hammers’ talisman Tomas Soucek gratefully clambered through as he opened the scoring. It was that sort of night for Kelly, who really struggled.
Righting some of these recruitment wrongs falls on Mitchell, who must do that while aligning with Howe and treading a PSR tightrope. Insiders say he has been quietly putting things in place to get it right long term, but the jury is out until January. Until then Newcastle need to find a formula to bring consistency.
You suspect that it will have to incorporate Tonali, a classy midfielder who can’t do much damage when he’s restricted to second half cameos. An injury to Guimaraes might give him an opportunity to make an impression when Newcastle pitch up at Selhurst Park on Saturday to finish a mixed November programme.
Had they scored in the first 45 minutes – when they had control of the contest – the narrative would have been very different for Newcastle.
Alexander Isak squandered several opportunities, straying narrowly offside in the first 10 minutes when Lewis Hall’s through ball sprang the West Ham high line, but it was Anthony Gordon who was the biggest culprit, snatching at the chance presented to him by Jean Clair-Todibo’s heavy touch.
Gordon had that sort of evening. There was dynamite in his boots when he broke at pace but his body language when asked to move away from his favoured left flank was a shade troubling. There have been flashes of form but he is yet to hit last season’s heights.
Newcastle need him because a worrying trend of failing to set the tempo is emerging against more mediocre opponents.
Against Southampton, Brighton and now West Ham at home they have failed to force the issue – a direct contrast to their best home displays against Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea. There is still plenty of work to do.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/fozLdlt
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