Kieran Trippier (right) and Fabian Char react to Newcastle's home loss to Liverpool when they conceded two late goals. Credit: EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Peter Powell
After Darwin Nunes scored Liverpool's winning goal in injury time, the field quickly emptied, with social media critics and prominent talking heads lashing out at the team's and manager's performance , one could hear the first sounds of the split at Newcastle United.
It's only natural for fans and pundits to get annoyed watching a team lose at home to 10 players in a game they should have won. Angry, reflex reactions have always been a hallmark of football fans, and watching a Newcastle defeat was just insane.
Newcastle fans have also lost touch with the emotion of defeat. In the 2022/23 season, they lost only five out of 38 league games, but lost two out of three in August.
This could not but provoke a strong reaction, although any talk of a crisis is ridiculously premature and drawn out. top, after such a result it is also reasonable to expect some criticism. It was painful for everyone involved, and sources told Telegraph Sport that manager Eddie Howe's mood afterward was gloomy.
Newcastle Eddie Howe is clearly unimpressed by the way his side squandered the lead against Liverpool. Photo: Allstar via Getty Images/Richard Sellers
Graeme Souness said you were never more than two defeats away from being under pressure as Newcastle manager and after consecutive losses to Manchester City and at home to Liverpool Howe will realize that the atmosphere at Tyneside is a bit changed.
After three games, Newcastle are in the bottom half of the table and have drawn, albeit at home, with treble winners City in the third round of the League Cup.
A rocky start to a difficult campaign this weekend brings another daunting challenge: a trip to Brighton to face a team that, like them, enjoyed breaking the old order and ousted Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur last season. out of the top six.
In their first four games, Newcastle will face the teams that finished first, fifth, sixth and seventh last season, beating Aston Villa in the first leg but losing the next two.
As the season approaches the first of three international breaks at the start of the season, the perception of their start as well as their overall health will depend on what happens at Amex Stadium.
A win and it was another good run — after all, Newcastle lost at home to Liverpool and away at City last season and still finished fourth. Draw and it was a worthy comeback after a difficult series of matches, but a loss will lead to disappointment and fear that the team will go backwards, and everyone will have two weeks to sort out the consequences before the arrival of Brentford on 17 September. .
Newcastle fan survives Liverpool defeat Photo: AFP via Getty Images/Lindsey Parnaby
This easy What to say, but even a defeat from Brighton is not a disaster. This is not how Howe and the players see it, and it is important to keep negative emotions under control; maintain a sense of perspective.
Newcastle will find out who they'll face in the Champions League on Thursday with a trip to Spain, Italy and Germany to whet their appetites. Newcastle are once again talking to the European elite for the first time in over 20 years.
This is a fitting reminder of how far the team has come and what a wonderful job Howe has done. Context is key and Newcastle must not lose sight of it, whether in the stands or in the boardroom.
The club does not claim to be in the top four
Telegraph Sport spoke to several high-profile sources at St James' Park over the summer and all agreed that this season will be much more difficult than the previous one. They expect their league positions to drop and don't expect to be in the top four again. We would like, of course, but do not require.
There is an understanding that the team has done better, has been incredibly lucky with injuries and that Howe secured Champions League football much sooner than anyone could have imagined when he was appointed in November 2021. In short, they said all the right things to put Howe at ease. that his job won't be in jeopardy if the results don't continue last season's magic carpet ride.
Of course, it would be helpful if someone on the board of directors came out and said it clearly and definitely, but football clubs don't work like that.
Yasser Al Rumayan, the club's chairman, may have gone out of his way to tell us in a recent Amazon Prime documentary (We Are Newcastle United) that he is not involved in the day-to-day running of the club, but he has the final say. everything that happens. He «wants to be No. 1 one day» in England and Europe.
We don't know how he will react if Newcastle lose and are eliminated from the European qualifying race.
In turn , we don't know how co-owners Amanda Stavely, her husband Mehrdad Godoussi and Jamie Reuben will fare if the adulation and happy applause they've enjoyed since the October 2021 takeover starts to shift towards criticism and snub.
Managers can be used as human shields and sacrificial lambs in such situations, but under the current circumstances, Howe's work stands scrutiny and should protect him from any talk of his job being threatened — at any point in the short term. for the medium term.
This does not mean that testing questions are not asked. This does not mean that he will avoid scrutiny of his decisions or be free from pressure if disappointing results turn bad.
But Newcastle have come a very long way in a short period of time. This summer they have increased the overall squad to cope with the additional demands of European football, but whether they have significantly improved their starting line-up is debatable.
This year has always been more difficult. and it's how well everyone sticks together if and when things get tough that will determine their season. Then we will know whether Newcastle is really united or not.
Свежие комментарии