Eddie Howe is having a difficult period of his Newcastle United tenure. There are some in the fan base that are starting to question him.
The vast majority are still behind him and for good reason. He has a lot of credit in the bank. In his first season, he oversaw a climb in the table that few believed was possible. Then, he followed it up with a fourth-place finish and earned the club Champions League football for the first time in decades.
However, that doesn’t mean he is above criticism and the last few weeks have seen some very poor performances. Poor runs of form happen and there are plenty of extenuating circumstances that are impacting our season. The main one being injuries, which will hamper us until the end of the campaign with Joelinton, Callum Wilson and Nick Pope still absent.
Plenty of players have had to play more minutes than would be ideal, while others are short of match fitness. Coupled together, that makes it look like the team is flagging as a whole. With players coming back, that will improve, but there will still be lingering impacts.
One of the big issues is that Howe is doing little to change the style of play, despite our identity being lost. Out of possession, there are big gaps to exploit and we look vulnerable whenever we turn the ball over. Blackburn Rovers, Luton Town, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest have all had a lot of joy in transition against us. You can forgive the odd bad game, but it is the new norm that we are conceding several chances every game.
Howe has been assertive in his press conferences that it is only necessary to change the system if the issues are system related, which he isn’t sure that they are. If the examples were few and far between, it would point to individual errors. If the team is struggling every week and the same issues are occurring (as is the case now), it would suggest the system is causing problems.
I agree with Howe that the system isn’t worth throwing out of the window. It has worked in the past and it will work again. However, a combination of fatigue, lack of confidence and absent players mean that it isn’t working at the moment. That much is clear.
It isn’t just out of possession. Yesterday, the team looked devoid of ideas with the ball. In recent weeks, a lot of our possession has involved our defenders passing it between themselves before turning the ball over. They don’t know what to do with the ball. Our previous patterns of play have disappeared and without them, it is much easier for opposition teams to win the ball high up the pitch. The Bukayo Saka goal is one example, but there have been plenty of others that haven’t directly led to goals.
With returning players and a kinder fixture list, the form might resolve itself. The team could beat Wolves at the weekend with the same system and confidence could build. I don’t think it will take that much for the form to improve. Before Christmas, we looked awful and were getting well beaten in games.
Now, the games are chaotic. We have no control, but we are creating as many chances as we are conceding, except the Arsenal game. Howe needs to find a way to wrestle control and avoid relying on luck in chaotic contests.
It is far too soon to write Eddie Howe off. He’s proven himself and deserves time to get to the bottom of these problems, but the amount of rope he has now is shortening. Supporters need to see improvement in performance and results before the end of the season.
Howe is too ready to flog a horse till it’s dead.
He has the enormous challenge of getting players to buy into his style of play now that the season is essentially lost. The big healthy dogs are in the FA Cup and there is little hope for any European play next year.
William J Powers(Quote)
Our biggest mistake was giving Howe and his cronies the job 🖤🤍🖤🤍
Sneck(Quote)
Aye, getting top four last season and reaching the Champions League for the first time in decades wasn’t good enough…
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
If cracks me up, the amount of armchair “experts” who think a change of system is going to make everything better. The system doesn’t matter. We could park the bus and still concede goals. We could pack midfield and still not dominate. The physical and mental exertion of the last two seasons has broken the players, many of them literally! We went into this season knowing we didn’t have enough in the tank. 4-3-3, 5-4-1, 3-5-2, or whatever, won’t make a jot of difference. The players can’t give anymore because they have nothing left to give.
lee(Quote)
Lee:-
Systems do matter, and it’s up to the coaches to be able to find one that suits the players they have available at any given time, especially when the ones used to playing a preferred system are unavailable.
It’s called getting the best out of what you’ve got.
If managers and coaches don’t try to find solution’s to problems they are either one dimensional or not as good as they think they are.
That’s what the training ground is for.
Joseph(Quote)
Luton, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Blackburn Rovers – how can you have a “kinder fixture list” than that?
Phil(Quote)
I would give Eddie one more year have a good transfer window the big problem is midfeild and ageing defence.
PETER MORTON(Quote)
Howe has done a fantastic job at Newcastle but a better coach/manager will be needed to move up to the next level if the clubs owners are serious about making the club successful. It’s a ruthless business at the end of the day and there is no room for sentiment. Eddie will probably have the mags as regular top half finishers but will that be enough for the Saudis?
Monty Python(Quote)