Eddie Howe has got himself into a position where it's fine to lose almost every week and excuses are made for him. The man has enough credit in the tank to get the rest of this season and maybe until this time next season if we start badly. Who was really missing Yesterday that would start ? Joelinton Pope Tonali that's it's only 3 players. The cause of all this is poor squad management and a style of play that unfortunately wasn't suited to the task in hand along with bottom feeder requirement and a belief in sub standard players that is never ending. The recruitment since isak signed has been crap as you've been saying ever since... who's fault is that? I'd love to know.
it’s great that with all of your coaching badges mate, that you can shine a light on how poor Eddie is like this.
The entire Newcastle fanbase was doing the same with poor Joelinton and Steve Bruce along with many others including Bobby Robson. Just saying
7 out of 11 so it's getting worse Next 4 fixtures only 1 looks winnable.....said it last week he's in trouble by February. I would then expect things should improve.
Because even by signing them, we've only been able to afford to add a veneer of top quality to the squad. Once we collect injuries, we're quickly through to solid at best or even worse players. Botman gets injured for three months, Lascelles is starting for three months. Tonali suspended for a year, Longstaff back in as a key player for the season. Barnes and Willock injured, Gordon having no one of similar quality to rotate with. Isak and Wilson both injured - no real strikers left. It's not difficult to understand that having collected an extravagant number of impact injuries, many fairly long term, all at once and during an exceptionally busy fixture period has left our squad relying on too many of our lesser players for too long, reduced sensible rotation options drastically and resultantly, likely been a main driving factor in players becoming exhausted and at increased risk of injury. How come you were commenting only three weeks ago, saying 'what a team this was becoming' if all the transfers have been so terrible? That's just a wee bit whiplash flip-floppy.
The players aren't only injured they're completely burned out. I've never seen Almiron so drained. Things will need to change once March comes around and probably moving forward in terms of how the side plays. This is merely my assessment and prediction and only time will tell.
Gordon is looking like a very good deal, and I think Barnes will be a bargain in the long run. We are signing up to the limit of FFP. They can't all be €70 million transfers. We simply do not have the money and there were too many on the old squad that needed replacing. When Eddie was hired and this turn around began on November 8, 2021 we were in 19th place with 5 points. I agree that RW should be the next big spend and it needs to be someone who can start and let Miggy come in off the bench.
By my count (I could be wrong), we've conceded 14 goals in the last 7 games (keeping a clean sheet in the one victory), following Pope's injury. In the 21 games this season prior to that, we conceded a total of just 19. Of course there's no excuse for our present ****ness, but maybe we underestimated his importance to the team, particularly the organization/confidence of the defence.
