We’ve had a terrible month in terms of results, and Twitter is in meltdown.
NUFC Twitter losing its mind doesn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was that the headloss went so far, people started calling for Howe to be sacked. And as the month dragged on, it became a more prominent opinion, even if it remains the vast minority.
I’m not the only one who’s blown away by the short-sightedness of this small but vocal faction. But I’m still struggling to get my head around it.
The Milan and Chelsea losses cut deep. Really, really deep. So much so that I still can’t stomach talking about them – and the Champions League in particular. Although let’s be real – the reason we’re no longer in Europe is simply that PSG penalty. And Chelsea was largely also down to inept refereeing and largely unusual (in the grand scheme of things) costly errors from Trippier. No sensible supporter can lay the blame for this exits solely at Howe’s door.
We’ve had some unexpected losses in the league – like Everton away and Forest at home – and a couple that weren’t so surprising, like Spurs and Liverpool.
For me, these losses can be attributed to many factors; Howe in some, and not in others.
It’s not wrong to say that his substitutions have been poor at times, because they have. Putting Trippier in central defence against Forest wrecked my head when Emil Krafth was right there on the bench.
It’s not wrong to say some of his starting lineups have been questionable, like leaving Livramento out of a few recent games.
But for the sake of perhaps four or five poor decisions with a decimated squad, people really want him gone?
Here are X reasons we should be keeping Eddie Howe.
He brought players back from the brink and boosted morale
And no, I don’t just mean improving the form of the likes of Schär, Lascelles, Joelinton et al. – although I don’t think that should go ignored.
What I mean is the change in mentality, in the mood around the club.
There’s no denying how desolate the players were under Ashley and Bruce. They didn’t necessarily look like they didn’t care – which we can say of mercenaries like Owen and Duff in the past – but they looked completely hopeless.
Howe breathed new life into the squad. He gave the players hope. And it’s so clear to see how much the squad adores him. Whether they’re playing or not, every player speaks highly of him. They seem excited and motivated to play for him, and I think this is one of the biggest blind spots of the Howe out brigade.
I don’t think they’ve stopped to think about how Howe leaving would affect the players. Especially if the club brought in someone as toxic as Mourinho. Sure, he can get results, and he’s won trophies, but has he ever left a club in a good place? On good terms? No. Will he lift a squad devastated by the loss of Howe? Also no.
Fatigue isn’t just an excuse
I can already hear many, many groans at this. But bizarrely, the more we’ve played, the more people have started to complain about this “excuse”. Make it make sense.
The longer the same group of players is playing two games a week – we haven’t had a free midweek since August – the more they’re going to get fatigued, especially with our high-pressing football. it’s not rocket science.
So I’m blown away that people are starting to kick off at this whenever it’s mentioned. “You can’t keep using this as an excuse!” But it gets worse the longer you go on with two games a week and the same players in them, no?
I do have a bone to pick with our medical team. Some may blame our high press, but it’s our trademark and it’s that style of play that got us into the Champions League and on incredible runs of form. Yes, we should adapt, but to blame that and that alone is naïve. When have you seen the likes of Bayern Munich with a team and a half worth of players injured?
Our medical staff should be adapting to that. But instead, there seems to be no tailored conditioning, and some of the decisions around the likes of Botman and Barnes have beggared belief. How anyone can pin that on Howe, I’ll never know.
He’s attracting and coaching elite players
There’s no doubt that our last transfer window was a bit of a nightmare; but not one we necessarily could have predicted.
For me, some priorities were wrong. It’s clearer than ever that we needed a striker in the summer, but I got laughed at for suggesting that. But let’s not forget the level of players we’re already attracting in the early stages of our long-term project with Howe at the helm.
Trippier was the first elite player who bought into the project at a time when we were deep in the relegation zone. Bruno, who was and apparently still is being scouted by Europe’s elite, soon followed.
In the summer, we finally managed to secure Botman’s signature knowing that established European competitors AC Milan were also in the race. He saw something special in Alexander Isak and we’ve seen some of our most gifted footballers in years grace the pitch at St James.
The progress we made earlier in the season
Football moves fast, make no doubt about it. A purple patch of form can easily be undone by a period of poor form. But look at the difference in our situation.
We started the season with Tonali, who Howe got a tune out of in his first game. There was criticism for his, at times, sloppy passing, but he more than made up for it in interceptions, positioning and both attacking and defensive prowess.
We had Sven Botman, easily one of the best centre-backs we’ve seen at the club. We had actual cover on the wings in Barnes and Murphy. We had energy. We had the majority of our players available.
It wasn’t the perfect start to the season, but we showed what we can do again; and even as the injuries started to pile up, we still ground out some outstanding results like Milan away, PSG at home, and battering pretty much every team that turned up to St James in the league.
To focus on a bad patch of results without recognising all the factors outside of Howe’s control is either wilfully or naively ignorant. So is ignoring the avoidable mistakes he’s made; but I can count them on one hand.
Where do we go from here?
A derby is always a massive game. But now it’s our biggest of the season. Had we still been in the Champions League and into the semi-finals of the League Cup, I don’t think it would be the case at all. I certainly wouldn’t have cared about this game anywhere near as much.
A loss right now is unfathomable. On paper, we shouldn’t lose. We have local lads in the squad who have been preaching the importance of the derby to the rest of the lads. We’re, unsurprisingly, better in every area of the pitch even with our long injury list.
But that’s why a loss would feel so catastrophic. And it would be a very Newcastle United thing to do.
A loss in this game would be many people’s final straws, and while I can understand it to a degree, I think it would be monumentally stupid to sack him over it.
The future looks bright with Howe. Happily, according to George Caulkin, the owners fully back him too and are unlikely to pull the trigger should we lose tomorrow.
Am I confident about tomorrow? No, but it’s only because it would be classic NUFC to lose a game like this. But am I confident in Howe? Absolutely.
