BRUSSELS – You learn a lot about a football club from their reaction to adversity.
In Newcastle’s case there were some encouraging signs as they bounced off the canvas in Belgium to assert themselves as a Champions League force to be reckoned with this season.
It was not just about the performance in Brussels, a first glimpse of a £150m front three that they hope will, in aggregate, replace the impact of £125m Alexander Isak. It was also about the messaging around the game.
If a summer of transfer knockbacks sometimes felt like a sobering reminder that their noses remain pressed against the glass of English football’s “elite”, Eddie Howe is not allowing his players to develop any sort of imposter syndrome.
“The players should believe,” the Newcastle manager said when he was asked if a first away win in the Champions League since 2003 was proof that they belong in such esteemed company.
Anthony Gordon doubles Newcastle's lead from the spot
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“There’s no reason why we can’t win games at this level home and away. We’ve got the players and the squad to do that.”
Internally, expectations remain high this season despite some talk of it being a year of transition. Howe is always publicly supportive of his players but in private there have been reminders of the high standards the club have set and maintain.
An analysis session of the Arsenal defeat focused on set-piece defending. Behind the scenes they are furiously working on how Newcastle can gain more of an edge in their own dead balls, which are being targeting as a huge area for improvement.
In their preparation work for the first Champions League away day they also worked on combinations in the final third. One insider said they did “extra work” on attacking play, drawing particular attention to the spaces that Nick Woltemade occupies and how they can provide room for Anthony Elanga and Anthony Gordon.
Part of it is about mentality. Woltemade appears like a fairly easy-going chap but he was riled up about not getting the chance to convert the first of two penalties that Newcastle won at Lotto Park. He grabbed the ball for the second spot-kick too, only relinquishing it when Sandro Tonali told him to hand it over to Gordon.
Anthony Gordon buries another penalty
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And check out the Geordie fans celebrations after
Compare and contrast with fellow big money signing Benjamin Sesko walking gingerly to take the 10th penalty of Manchester United’s Carabao Cup defeat at Grimsby.
For Gordon, who stepped up to roll in both spot-kicks, it was a sign of Woltemade’s striker’s instincts.
“I don’t mind!” he said.
“A striker should want to take them but I’ve won too many and not taken them at Newcastle to give it up now. Now Alex [Isak] is gone, penalties are mine.”
If it is a group defined by their honesty then no one represents that more than Gordon, who is as forthright as they come. Ask him a straight question and you can expect a straight answer.
‘We’ve been boring’
Here’s how he sums up Newcastle’s campaign before Wednesday’s 4-0 win: “I think we’ve lacked a bit of spark, a bit of creativity, a lack of good football. We’ve been a bit boring, in all honesty.”
That is not him being controversial for the sake of it. Gordon shares Howe’s high standards and bristles at the idea of this being a season of transition for a club that lost their striker talisman but still spent £200m on deepening their squad for weeks like this one.
“We can be anything we want to be this season,” he said. “We can beat anyone in any game. I never go into a game thinking we’re going to lose.
“As long as we can keep that defensive structure, that creativity, we can beat anyone. You see that in the Liverpool game [a 3-2 defeat], for the first 30 minutes before I got sent off we dominated them and they’re the champions of England.”
Woltemade’s start has also taken the pressure off Newcastle. He is not your typical number nine but he is as popular in the dressing room as he is on the terraces, where three goals in four games have enabled the Magpies to move on from Isak.
“They’re two completely different players so it’s going to take us time to get used to his style of play,” Gordon admits.
“I think it’s the first time the front three have all started together so I think people need to give us time to gel and get to know each other’s games.
“But I thought Nick was top to be honest, the way he held the ball up under constant pressure. His hold up play, his link up play, he’s a pleasure to play with.”
Gordon also believes Bayern Munich official Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s comments about the Woltemade fee – he called Newcastle “idiots” for paying it – are foolish.
“I don’t know why you’d comment on a player who is not at your club,” he said.
“It’s a bit stupid to be honest, especially when the player has started really well. Had he started really poorly then you make that comment but he’s scored three goals in four games so it was a bit of a weird comment.”
After a summer on the back foot, Newcastle are fighting back.
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