Saturday night’s post-match press conference at Newcastle felt like a big moment for Eddie Howe. It felt emotional – and he picked his words very carefully after the defeat to Brentford.It was the first time Newcastle have been booed off at both at half-time and full-time in a long, long time. It represented the lowest point since the Saudi Arabia takeover of the club nearly five years ago. They are sitting 12th in the Premier League after three straight losses, and were knocked out of the League Cup last week.
Howe is someone who commits his life, his heart and his soul to Newcastle and has done that since he arrived back in November 2021. No one can question that. But he obviously is questioning how he can do his job better – whether that be tactics, team selection and training.
The problem for Newcastle right now is that they can’t really train. The schedule is absolutely brutal at the moment – they’re in the middle of six games in 17 days.They’ve not had a free midweek since the international break in November. That is, of course, the same for Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal. But it feels that those three teams’ squads are better equipped to deal with the schedule.
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Newcastle and Brentford
Newcastle had an opportunity last summer to improve the squad in terms of recruitment. They signed five outfield players.
But only really one of those five have worked out so far in Malick Thiaw. Four of them – Yoane Wissa, Nick Woltemade, Jacob Ramsey and Anthony Elanga – the jury is still out on – at best.
And when you’re spending £250m and you’ve got all these games, you’re playing a game every three days, you need the majority of those players to work. So it now feels that the issues from last summer are really coming home to roost.Howe’s recruitment at Newcastle has been incredible up until now. Players like Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes, and Dan Burn have all come in and become huge characters on Tyneside – and they’ve all improved as players. They’re the heartbeat of the team.There is still time for those four summer signings to…
2026-02-08 12:35:00
