Eddie Howe has, categorically, been let down by those above him. Whatever the narrative surrounding the failures in the summer market- it goes beyond that, there has been no first team signing in 18 months. Couple that with having no high-quality academy players to call on because of criminal underinvestment by the previous regime – it has in “some” ways crippled the gaffer and his ability to affect football matches.
Teams have blown past us with their player trading and recruitment, and it looks much worse than it is because of our bottom half league position. Eddie deserves the time to turn things around despite the prolonged nature of the decline in performances precisely because the board have let him down so spectacularly.
Eddie is also being let down by his players: despite scoring Isak committed one of the worst sins on a football pitch by being greedy when he should’ve squared for a tap into an empty net; Joelinton has got his new contract and has regressed; Barnes is an anonymous waste of £38m (should’ve been spent on a RW); Almiron and Murphy are still expected to play and contribute on the right; Schar is aging poorly; Dan Burn’s lack of pace is killing us; and Pope looks like Bambi on ice in rollerblades with the ball at his feet. They can all turn things around but so many are underperforming in the same team right now.
We’ve all seen with our own eyes that short-termism doesn’t really work in football – but it is a results-based business, and results do have to pick up ASAP.
With that in mind, the same mistakes, the same patterns of play, the same substitutions and the same giant hole in midfield/the same lack of midfield balance are starting to repeat themselves like a bad curry on a Saturday night leaving you with the runs. And the manager must accept responsibility for these things.
Tonali must have it written in his contract that he can only play 90 minutes for Italy. Typical Newcastle luck, Gordon signs a new contract and gets injured immediately. All these things are seemingly compounded by the managers stubbornness to change his tactics to compensate for the squad’s short comings.
Add in his wild comments after the game that he thought it was a high-level game between two quality teams and that we were unlucky – I found myself hoping he was just fronting up and covering for his players. We all know plenty of previous managers that would’ve got stick for saying something like that. For me, this was one of Eddie’s worst outings as United manager.
Ashworth was right when he mentioned the ageing squad and that was the season we finished 4th should have been listened to
Darren Bebb(Quote)
What a negative bore this writer is. Eales and Mitchell have been absolutely dog turd for this club. Leaving a demoralised and stale squad. Have you watched our matches this year? Howe has changed things around – it hasn’t worked but to say he is stubborn is wrong.
A(Quote)
So Mr Young – what do you do in your spare time when you are not an Eddie Howe apologist?
With the players we have, and the quality they have shown, we should be playing better than we are, and that’s down to just one person.
The Gaffer!
BykerBill(Quote)
“what do you do in your spare time”
The irony from an account that spends most days picking fault with every article…😂
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Byker bill has a point .. it’s down to the manager .. just because we did not sign an over rated over hyped centre back somehow the club has not backed Howe? .. they have invested over €500 million and are second only to Chelsea in net spend … the team are not playing well and that is Eddies responsibility … this maybe a dip
All teams have them but if no improvement on last year then we need to change the manager just as much as players …. I don’t think picking on folk for picking fault with articles it’s just that some of the opinions are not very good and don’t reflect reality
Mike(Quote)
Newcastle have bought some players they shouldn’t have and failed to strengthen in areas that were urgently needed, that is a fact.
The reasons are complex with psr, underinvestment from previous regime, mistakes by management both financial and political, injuries, not selling older layers plus some questionable decisions by Howe and his coaching team who appear only to have 433 as a plan.
The latest news that PIF are going to cut back on overseas investment could be another unhelpful thing to consider.
This will be no quick fix and any players that don’t want to give everything for the club or who are past their sell buy date should be moved on, Wilson, Almiron & Trippier to name but three.
Joseph(Quote)
The thing about selling players that you don’t want or need is you have to have someone willing to buy them and pay their huge prem lge wages.
We don’t so we’re stuck with the likes of Hayden etc till their contracts run down and for those saying just pay their contracts off, it’s not that simple what with PSR and the like.
Add in the fact we tried to sell both Trips and Miggy to avert PSR but both refused to entertain the offers on the table (Bayern + Saudi) and we ended up losing two young players instead.
Selling players isn’t as easy as some on here think.
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
The incompetent twats above Howe have not given him a first team player worth the name in 18 months. Chief **** being Mitchell who wasted the whole window chasing 1 player. You people calling for Howe’s head are prob the same idiots that forced Sir Bobby out. You deserve Steve Bruce and McClaren.
A(Quote)
I’m not personally calling for Howe’s head my concern which I’ve mentioned plenty time’s is he is to loyal and mentioned before Ashworth wanted to start the trading before contracts were handed out to certain players think it’s definitely starting to bite
Darren Bebb(Quote)
It is about time the so-called owners and management of NUFC got off their backsides and addressed the “the elephant in the room”. The corrupt practices of the Premier League, the use of new, illegal regulations to strangle any newcomers’ attempts to disrupt the septic six and the total lack of support for EH particularly in the last transfer window. They need to put their money where their mouth is and sue both the Premier League and EUFA for restraint of trade and take action to mobilise the other 13 PL clubs to confront the septic six. Unless they do they may as well forget about needing an 80,000 seater stadium as it’s going to take another de ade before we see any real change in our ability to challenge for the title. Ask yourself how many in today’s squad are leftovers from the FCB’s era, you can see they aren’t going to go anywhere as far as the top4 and CL are concerned and as a result out top players will be looking to move on. You could see that with Isak last weekend.
PauloGeordio09(Quote)