A season of harsh lessons can’t end soon enough for Eddie Howe after Newcastle were dumped out of the FA Cup by Manchester City
- Defeat felt inevitable for Newcastle in their FA Cup tie with Manchester City
- Club suffers from looking too much to the future in their transfer transactions
- We’ve already conceded more goals than last season… Why Newcastle aren’t the force they used to be – It all starts podcast
For Newcastle, this was like being held at bay in a play fight by a dismissive older brother. It’s true of most teams, but they were slower, weaker and less smart than Manchester City.
A defeat that seemed inevitable from the moment Bernardo Silva started in the thirteenth minute – he added a second on the half hour – means their wait for a domestic trophy will stretch to the biblical definition of a lifetime, three scoring years and ten.
But how many more years will be added? Ask the same question last summer and many measured the expected wait time in months, not years.
Eddie Howe had taken Newcastle to the Champions League and the Saudi-funded club was on the verge of upsetting the Premier League’s established order. Saturday reminded me that they were still being held in place for a while.
This season has been a blow, literally and figuratively, for Newcastle. Their transfer activities last summer were short-sighted in the sense that they were long-sighted: they didn’t buy enough players for the here and now.
Newcastle never looked like they could compete with Man City after Bernardo Silva’s opener
Eddie Howe’s faltering side suffers from a lack of depth, exacerbated by poor transfers
The Etihad featured just one of their four signings, and that was loanee Lewis Hall for the final 28 minutes.
They currently have injured players in the treatment room and on the field. How can a team expect to compete with City – or even lesser opponents – if at least four starters are not operating at 100 percent?
Yes, bad luck has in some cases contributed to injuries that are among the worst in the Premier League (nearly 1,500 days lost), but they are also the result of inexperience in preparing for and navigating a four-league season. That’s what Pep Guardiola also said after this match.
“Newcastle have taken a big step and reached a new level, but if it’s the first time it’s not easy for any club,” he said.
‘Last season was incredible, but they played one game a week. This season they have played a lot, and it is completely different, every three days.
‘If you have experience, you can handle the training and the minutes. I’m pretty sure they’ll learn the lessons and make decisions to try to still be there (at the top).”
One decision they have to make – and will make – is to back Howe next season, because he is the reason they are here in the quarter-finals.
But Guardiola was right when he said lessons need to be learned, and his counterpart cannot count on everything going well when the injuries are clear. Not least because there is plenty of evidence to suggest that fitness problems are more than just unfortunate.
Recruitment, training methods, diagnosis and treatment, playing style and personnel all need to be looked at if Newcastle are to close the gap with City and others.
Magpies’ hopes of FA Cup glory were dashed in a 2-0 defeat to the defending champions
They proved last season that it’s not always about money and although the spending rules are extremely restrictive, Howe and his staff have shown they are capable of beating the financial curve.
But now they’re going around in circles. When a season that has caused them problems finally slows down, some clear thinking will be required if they really want to deal a blow to the likes of City.