Crisis meetings, Newcastle's winger conundrum and tonight's major Man City test
Following that 3-1 defeat at Brentford last time out, The Mail's Craig Hope reported that the squad's leadership group held crisis meetings about recent results and how to put things right after falling to 14th and just two points above the bottom three.
With tonight's clash with Man City in mind, this may be the litmus test to see whether those meetings were taken on by the group, as a response will be essential if we're to avoid making it three straight defeats in the league.
United just don't seem like the pack of wild dogs that they used to be. They used to hound teams and press high out of possession, now they look like puppies sat on the edge of their own box unsuccessfully defending a one goal lead (this happened against Brentford, West Ham, Brighton and Arsenal).
The last few games, bar cup competitions, have looked like the team that struggled under Steve Bruce some years ago. Sloppy in possession, passive out of possession, a truly awful watch.
Newcastle used to be a neutral's favourite viewing, swinging back against the 'big 6' and going blow for blow, now United seem to be backing off and letting themselves get beaten on a weekly basis.
Despite conventional media trying to tell you Nick Woltemade is the problem, he's not. The same Woltemade that scored a brace against Luxembourg and a goal against Slovakia while with the German national team, taking his tally to 31 for club and country across 2025?
The winger conundrum
Newcastle United's problem is that they can only play through the wings. They lack a midfielder that can see gaps in the defence to exploit, a creative type midfielder disregarded for the engine of Joelinton, who I now believe isn't good enough to take the team forward, despite how much I like his antics.
If you only play through the wings, you'd want your wingers to be playing well, right? Well Eddie Howe has a wing problem.
Anthony Elanga still hasn't produced a goal or assist for the club in 17 games, Harvey Barnes' all round game has been lacking despite scoring at Brentford and Anthony Gordon has been woeful, offering so little outside of the Champions League.
Jacob Murphy, who is still underrated by a lot of fans is the only wing player contributing, but even then his numbers have been far from spectacular, with two goals and one assist to his name.
With all of that in mind, we need our wide men to step up tonight, whether that's in their service up to big Nick Woltemade or their final product in front of goal.
Are Man City back?
Man City, if they win on Saturday, will be title contenders again. Arsenal currently have everything to lose, sitting at the top of the table after Liverpool's monumental decline.
But Man City seem to be back to playing their best football. They have been bedding in a lot of new players, such as Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, while losing some of the staples of their squad last summer, such as Ederson, Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker.
It all seems to have clicked now, and they recently destroyed reigning champions Liverpool 3-0 to prove it. Erling Haaland is back to being the goal machine he was two years ago, back at the level of goalscoring that gets him captained every week by the average FPL player (me included).
The acquisition of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was the best piece of business Man City could've made in the summer. £26m for the best goalkeeper in the world, who is 26 years old and entering his prime? An absolute joke of a signing, you have to scratch your head at why PSG ever let him leave.
Donnarumma has all of the experience of a keeper in his 30s, playing for AC Milan's first team since the age of 16, and still has the body to pull off world class saves week in, week out.
