The pressure is rising on Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe ahead of a huge clash with Bournemouth on Saturday that feels significant.
Three weeks without a game was supposed to see the Magpies brush off derby disappointment and launch themselves into a late charge for the European spots that they desperately need to help finance their summer overhaul. Instead it was a dispiriting case of more of the same.
Newcastle have six games left of a rollercoaster season. The run-in now feels very important for Howe’s future.
What are the problems?
Newcastle are not asserting themselves in games any more. Their ferocious press has long since dissipated and the edge that made them a nightmare to play against has been blunted.
Clearly they have failed to adapt to losing Alexander Isak, who was the focal point of the team last season. The £55m signing of Yoane Wissa has been an absolute disaster (a signing that, with financial rules structured the way they are, will weigh heavily on them for years) and Howe appears to have made a decision on Nick Woltemade as a forward in his system. Unbelievably, William Osula, who nearly left the club in September, is now the club’s first-choice striker.
Late goals and protecting a lead are both huge issues. An incredible 32 per cent of the goals they have conceded this season have been after the 80th minute and most have cost them. Inside the club they recognise the problem but have not been able to solve it.
Is he under genuine pressure?
“Frustration” was how one source summed up the mood on Monday. Everyone is feeling the pressure of a dreadful run of three dispiriting losses.
Defeat at Crystal Palace was certainly not make or break but it did add into the narrative that this season has been like Groundhog Day – the same problems, the same lack of solutions.
Of course there is mitigation: 11 goals conceded in stoppage time has cost them six points. They have let 25 points slip from winning positions. The margins have been razor thin. Howe is the lightning rod for criticism but his players – who he has defended publicly – have clearly let him down too.
As a manager he has been transformative at St James’ Park, the best the club has had in the modern era. But it is becoming clear that success does not represent a free pass. If results don’t improve and they finish around or lower than the position they currently occupy, the pressure will ramp up ahead of a huge summer when Newcastle have no choice but change course on recruitment and their trading strategy.
Internally there is a feeling in some quarters that the club “need more information” before a detailed end-of -season debrief that will map out what Newcastle do next.
That means the next six games are crucial, as are Howe’s plans to turn things around in the future. If they bring wins and positive performances the pressure dips. More of what we saw on Sunday and the questions – on the terraces and for the club’s decision makers – are not going anywhere.
What comes next?
The Cherries have been a nightmare for Newcastle in recent seasons and are unbeaten in seven meetings since Howe took over. Last year’s 4-1 defeat was particularly painful.
With supporter sentiment less sympathetic than it was then, Howe and Newcastle need a reaction. There were not many left in St James’ Park by the end of the Sunderland defeat but those who were there made their feelings known. It feels like a crowd on the edge.
While the team struggles on the pitch, the strategy is shifting off it. Recruitment meetings are ramping up in preparation for the summer with the suggestion Newcastle want to be “ready to go” from the start of the transfer window and Howe is involved in those talks.
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But this will not be a summer of bringing in top flight-ready players. Over £100m of striker talent sat on the bench told its own story on Sunday and while the previous strategy brought two Champions League campaigns and a Carabao Cup, with financial restrictions biting hard it might well have run its course.
“Sometimes you need to do different things,” one source admitted.
There is no doubt that change is coming at Newcastle, but whether Howe is around to lead it feels less certain than it once did.
