Newcastle United look a like a team in danger of going backwards as bad luck stories from defeat against Brighton don’t wash with all fansNewcastle United are a team in danger of going backwards if they aren’t careful – with the final outcome of Saturday’s clash with Brighton & Hove Albion concrete evidence of a team with no Plan B.
In his post-game Press conference, Eddie Howe admirably did not hide from criticism and accepted regardless of chances created the final product on the day had fell short. He also added: “If we keep doing the right things and performing well, the results will come.”
However, the issues that rose their ugly head against the Seagulls did not unfold within the 90-plus minutes on Saturday, it was simply more of the same. If we are being honest, did Newcastle create chances against Brighton? Or did they create openings?How many of the 21 goal attempts can be deemed as clear-cut opportunities that a striker should score 9/10? Once you whittle that down there is a distinct lack of quality.
And as I say, this didn’t just happen against Brighton. For large parts of the game away to Bournemouth, Newcastle struggled in the opening 45 minutes before Anthony Gordon rescued them in the second half.
Until two long range strikes from Fabian Schar and Harvey Barnes at Wolves, Newcastle were not grinding out clear-cut chances and the same can be said in the first half at Fulham and away to Everton. Two penalties against Man City and Wimbledon bailed Newcastle out recently other than success from the spot, United have gone four and a half matches without a goal from open play.
True, Alexander Isak has not played due to a toe injury and Callum Wilson is yet to appear this season. But an attacking fluency is missing from Newcastle this term and eight Premier League goals on the board from eight matches is a true reflection of where the Magpies are really at.
Was Saturday just a bad luck story? Or is there a more serious trend creeping in for Howe’s team?
United are the lowest scorers in the top half of the table and Wolves, Everton and West Ham, for all their early struggles, have scored more. Inevitable anger was fired across social media on Saturday night as one fan fumed: “When you let the manager down like you lot did in the summer these kind of results are inevitable.”
Another posted: “Spend some money – we are going backwards not forwards.”
As we spend a weekend analysing a defeat that some observers may have seen coming, it’s worth going back to sporting director Paul Mitchell’s words not so long ago. Mitchell was criticised for being harsh when he said of the scouting network: ‘Is it fit for purpose? Not last winter gone, the winter before that. Is it fit for purpose in the modern game?
“Because other clubs that have adopted a different approach over time, with more intelligence, more data-informed than we are, actually prospered in this window. That’s where we have to grow to be now.
“You look at the money we have invested up to this point, £250million net over the last two-and-a-half years. Was our model in place to be able to spend more to the levels we would have liked to enhance the team? I don’t think it was, because we haven’t sold a player during that time, barring what we were forced to do through PSR. ”
You can throw Brighton into the category of a team that signed “data-informed” players with Fabian Hürzeler’s team operating with a hybrid system that fluctuated from defence and attack. Even the great Gary Lineker had tipped Brighton to come to St James’ Park and play with a “high line” on Saturday, but that was far from the case.
On the surface, it looked like Brighton were playing a 4-4-2 formation and while Newcastle did have plenty of goal attempts, Hürzeler did not look like a man who was getting stressed about the bulk of those chances. His team intelligently absorbed and when they got a slight opening veteran Danny Welbeck finished well.
The visitors seemed to have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. As a club Newcastle remain on a journey and you can’t criticise Howe’s win ratio but he continues to motivate a team made up of players he inherited, recruited to stay in the Premier League during the Mike Ashley era, and players then signed to keep the team in the division in 2021/22 when all hopes looked gone.
Mitchell is right to talk about a strategy and signing players with a certain DNA to fit a system moving forward. But between now and January or the next summer window, Howe has no choice but to try to reshuffle the pack.
If Wilson is due back in the next few days he may be in for a shock if the service to Alexander Isak is anything to go off. Newcastle looked like a team that had forget how to hit the byline and pull a simple cross along the six-yard box on Saturday.
Most chances or openings seemed over-elaborate and overthought as if those in black and white were looking to score the perfect goal. Just hoping Newcastle can get back to the team that finished fourth in 2022/23 may not be enough.
As if we didn’t need reminding, Opta Analysts have handed Newcastle’s next three Premier League games a “difficulty rating” of 90.2% with Chelsea (a), Arsenal (h) and Nottingham Forest (a), it seems worryingly accurate right now.
