Following on from lacklustre performances, one level from a doable six in opposition to West Ham and Crystal Palace and a weekend that noticed us slip into the underside half, there have been elevated requires Newcastle to exchange Eddie Howe ought to he not in a position to flip issues round.
Apart from some wonderful performances simply earlier than the worldwide break in opposition to Chelsea, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, Newcastle have regarded like a shadow of the high-intensity group many within the league feared enjoying simply 18 months in the past.
And while a few of that may be attributed to PSR struggles hindering squad improvement, the dearth of signings in 2024 and unlucky harm luck, many have questioned if Howe is beginning to run out of concepts after Saturday noticed us handle only one shot (and 0 on track) in opposition to a struggling Palace aspect.
A lot of the mainstream press disagrees, nevertheless. The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has been one of many staunch defenders of Howe within the wake of latest outcomes, and was not shy for phrases following on from Saturday’s draw at Selhurst Park.
In a message to followers on X, Edwards mentioned: “Aston Villa final gained a sport on October twenty second, and I consider there isn’t any the identical stage of anti manger vitriol while flying round social media. They drew at house to Palace too.”
In the identical tweet, he continued “I do know the vast majority of the shortsighted, adverse and unhinged stuff is confined to Newcastle on right here, however while you lose sight of context, you turn into irrational and annoying.”
”Howe deserves help, backing from the board, and time to get issues proper, which is what I’m instructed he’ll get so snipe away. He’s not going anyplace.”
While Howe’s achievements actually can’t be understated, serving to the membership survive relegation in unprecedented circumstances earlier than guiding us again to the Champions League for the primary time in many years, there’s a sense that we’ve now gone stale and should adapt to beat this regarding begin to 2024/25.
Edwards and far of the Toon-centric press are proper: Howe deserves help from the followers, gamers and the membership’s hierarchy to navigate the continuing storm and to try to proper the inconsistencies we’ve seen unfold too usually this season. But it surely’s additionally not unfair to criticise when the supervisor will get it incorrect.
Frankly, there’s very, only a few accessible managers who you’d maybe entrust with such a process who aren’t already signed to both one other Premier League membership or one in every of Europe’s elite sides.
However the followers completely retain their proper to criticise the present managerial regime: the very fact we’ve seen a scarcity of plan B, little or no good soccer and virtually not one of the excessive depth ‘2022/2023 Newcastle’ is a priority. Howe should be anticipated to seek out options.
Wednesday evening’s sport in opposition to runaway league leaders Liverpool serves an ideal alternative for Howe to reply his critics with one other convincing efficiency from his aspect in opposition to one of many world’s prime groups. However something lower than a gutsy efficiency that could be a dramatic enchancment on latest video games and people noises of concern gained’t go anyplace, even when Howe’s job is rightfully secure for now.