Where has it all gone wrong this season?
Now that the dust has settled on the derby, I have had time to think.
This Newcastle United v Sunderland game summed up our season: unable to hold a lead, misplacing passes, energetic in the first half but lifeless in the second.
There are factors that have contributed to this poor Premier League campaign – injuries and fatigue have put pressure on an already thin squad. But I think what happened last summer has sown the seeds for what we are seeing now.
Put simply, the Newcastle United owners messed up. They knew there was no Director of Football or CEO in place and they did nothing about it. It was an important summer and they didn’t have the proper hierarchy in place. They got things wrong as a result.
They should have sold Alexander Isak as soon as it became clear that he wasn’t going to play again. Sure, we probably would have got a few quid less than £125m, but it would have avoided the toxicity that built up between Isak and the club as the saga dragged on. It clearly affected the team and they never recovered from it. The togetherness that defined the last few seasons has been eroded slightly.
Eddie Howe isn’t blameless in this, either. While the Isak situation was out of his hands, he chose the new signings. He has done well with transfers in the past but last summer was more miss than hit. Anthony Elanga has only shown glimpses of what he produced at Nottingham Forest, Jacob Ramsey has only just started coming into form, and Yoane Wissa’s best days could be behind him after that injury.
I like Nick Woltemade, I think there’s a quality player in there, but it feels like he has been hung out to dry. The rest of the team are struggling to adapt to him and vice versa. They’re used to playing with a pacy striker who can run in behind and that clearly isn’t Woltemade’s game, so maybe the move into midfield is to try and utilise him in another way. The problem is that it isn’t working, and he is bearing the brunt of the criticism for that – unfairly, in my view. He needs a proper pre-season with the team, but with the World Cup this year, that might not happen.
Malick Thiaw is the only new signing who deserves any credit. He has made a few mistakes recently but that is probably down to fatigue from the number of games he has played.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think Eddie Howe should be sacked. After what he has achieved, he deserves to take us into next season. He has the hierarchy in place above him now, so the vacuum from last summer is gone. But it won’t be easy.
It looks like any hopes of Europe are over, which will make it difficult to keep the likes of Sandro Tonali. I hope it won’t be another cruel summer for us.