Eddie Howe - In danger of becoming a victim of his own success?
Eddie Howe is currently in the middle of the most difficult run of his Newcastle United career. There were initial struggles when he took over from Steve Bruce, but there were a lot of mitigating circumstances. The main one being the change in style that was being coached. It takes time to implement this and some early struggles were expected.
The difference with this run of form is that it comes with his team. Even if he didn’t sign every player, there is no doubt that this is an Eddie Howe team. The injuries and fatigue have hit the team hard, but it can be argued that the head coach has added to those issues, rather than relieved them. Several in the squad have been run into the ground, while there has been a lack of trust in the squad.
There haven’t been a lot of options available to Howe, but he has had some that he has chosen to ignore. If he could go back in time, he would probably make more changes to his starting eleven and use the likes of Lewis Hall and Paul Dummett more often. Sandro Tonali’s suspension has hurt the team, but there were a few matches prior to the ban where he was able to play. The Italian was used a sub during these matches. Again, in hindsight, he should have been used more in order to ease the load on those that have been run into the ground since.
Howe remains by far the best choice to be Newcastle manager. It confuses me that the bookies have slashed his odds from huge outsider to 5th in the betting to be the next Premier League manager to leave their post. That seems to indicate that continued poor form in the next six weeks could lead to serious discussion about his job security.
The vast majority of supporters will want nothing less than to see Howe leave the club. He has been embraced by supporters, but there are a vocal minority that are starting to turn on the manager. The Sunderland match in the FA Cup will be a huge match for Howe. A loss there could lead to huge scrutiny and pressure from both the fans and the media alike. There is already a section of the media that believe he is a Mark Hughes figure who will need to be moved on sooner rather than later. It won’t take a lot for these journalists to become a lot more militant in their criticism.
Although Howe shouldn’t be viewed as a deity who is above criticism, there are plenty of mitigating circumstances to explain the slight drop off this season. The first being the number of injuries. Some have been incredible bad luck that are unrelated to fatigue.
Players who picked up unique injuries included Harvey Barnes, Elliot Anderson, Sven Botman, Jacob Murphy, Nick Pope and Dan Burn. Their absences have added to the workload of others and caused the soft tissue injuries. Howe may have been able to manage this situation better, but we have remained competitive in the majority of matches and he has refused to hide behind it. That deserves respect and I am sure he will have learned a lot from this situation.
Another mitigating circumstance is the cup draws that club have had this season. There have been no easy matches and that has increased the workload, both physically and mentally. We have managed to compete in all competitions, even if we haven’t thrived like we did last season.
There have been a lot of growing pains this season, which were expected. It was always going to be difficult to go again with a squad that overachieved last season. Four additions were made, but we all expected more incoming transfer business. Against Chelsea last night, we had to rely on Matt Ritchie as our attacking sub. It is difficult to compete at the sharp end of football using players like that, which is to mean no disrespect for Ritchie.
The club are progressing a lot, but it will take time for the squad depth to be there. It can’t be bought in one window, as it leads to a Chelsea situation. The growth needs to be slow and well thought out. With the increased number of games, we were always going to lead to a drop in our performances.
There could be more short-term pain in the next six weeks, with matches against Liverpool, Sunderland, Manchester City and Aston Villa to come. However, even if we lose some of those, the club need to stay strong and stick to the plan. We will come through this bruising experience and learn from it.
Minds will be focused, but we can’t afford to let Eddie Howe become a victim of his own success.
