4 hours ago
1
Slumped to 12th
©IMAGO
The stakes couldn't be higher ahead of Newcastle's Premier League clash with Tottenham on Tuesday night. Following a disastrous defeat to Brentford at the weekend, in which Eddie Howe's side lost 3-2 despite taking the lead and then levelling the scoring 10 minutes from time, the Newcastle manager was forced to confront the pressure on him and whether he was still the right man for the job. "That's why I'm sitting here," said Howe ahead of what might be a must-win game for the 48-year-old manager. "If there was doubt, I wouldn't be - because the club is the most important thing. I've never put myself before the club. If I didn't think I was the correct man to take the team forward, and I couldn't give the players what they need, then I would step aside and let someone else do it."
Following the defeat to Brentford, Newcastle have now won just one of their last eight games in all competitions, which has seen then drop out of the English League Cup and slump to twelfth in the Premier League table. And if the St James's Park side can't overcome a Spurs team that sit fifteenth in the league table and just six points above relegation, then some serious questions may need to be asked of Howe and what's gone wrong for Newcastle this season.
In no uncertain terms, Newcastle’s season has so far been one to forget for the club’s passionate fanbase. Alongside getting knocked out of the League Cup they had hoped to defend after last season’s historic title win, Howe’s side have spent just one matchday out of 25 in the Premier League top six. And while the Geordie club have advanced through the Champions League group stage to the first knock-out round, that alone hasn’t been enough to spare Howe’s record at the club from nosediving this season.
When we consider Howe’s record as Newcastle manager in each of his five seasons at the club, we can see that this current campaign is his worst ever since taking over the job at St James’s Park. Across all games, Howe has averaged just 1.51 points per game, which is lower than the 1.57 points per game he averaged in 21/22 and 23/24 and, staggeringly, a 20 percent drop on last season’s form. And, as Newcastle fans may have already noted, the English tactician’s poor form in 23/24 and this season also coincided with the club juggling the demands of domestic football and the Champions League.
However, chalking up Newcastle’s poor form to extra games and a crowded schedule doesn’t explain everything and, in Howe’s defence, he touched on the club’s biggest issue after the Man City defeat in the League Cup. "In both games if you look back. We are frustrated we only scored one goal in two games,” said the Newcastle boss. "We don't feel we should have lost the first leg 2-0 on the balance of opportunities created. It could have been different but we accept the reality. The last thing you want to do is have to chase a game. We were going for the match, we were trying to attack."
Indeed, Howe’s side have been extremely shy in front of goal this season, with just two occasions in their last 10 Premier League games when they’ve scored more than two goals. And it’ll come as no surprise to fans of the club to learn that their 35 goals in 25 games ranks them twelfth among all clubs in the English top-flight, as they sit precariously with a goal difference of -1. In stark contrast, Newcastle had the fourth best attacking stats in the Premier League and enjoyed a goal difference of +21.
The major issue here is, of course, the fact that the club were more or less forced to sell want-away striker Alexander Isak to Liverpool in the summer transfer window. The Sweden international not only impressed with 27 goals in 42 games across all competitions but scored a staggering 16 more goals than the next best goalscorers in Howe’s side. Newcastle are struggling without Isak’s goals this time around and the players they signed in a bid to replace him have so-far failed to live up to the billing.
As we all know, Newcastle took the €145 million they received for Isak’s transfer and essentially spent it directly on centre forwards Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa from Stuttgart and Brentford respectively, as well as Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest. In total, the attacking trio cost a staggering €194m and should have provided more than enough cover for Isak’s goals but that hasn’t exactly worked out for Howe and his team and as a result they have seriously struggled to score goals and win games.
The numbers are stark. Following the weekend's clash with Brentford, Elanga has managed just one goal and two assists in 32 games for Newcastle, Wissa has failed to replicate his form from last season with just three goals and one assist in 17 games and Woltemade has just nine goals and four assists in 35 games across all competitions. Which means even if we combined the contributions of all three players together, their combined total of 20 goals and assists still comes some way short of Isak’s 34 goals and assists last season.
Of course, it takes time for new signings to adapt to new surroundings and no one expected any of Newcastle’s new players to step into Isak’s shoes and replace the striker overnight. But unless Howe can get any of his three big signings to start scoring and creating goals on a regular basis in the weeks to come, this season could finish with Newcastle stuck in midtable and potentially looking for a new manager in the summer.
