After three defeats on the spin Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe must be starting to feel the weight of the job he’s taken on.
Newcastle fans are still behind Eddie Howe and so too, it seems, are the staff at the club with one insider speaking to The Athletic last week.
You will always get a cluster of fans who overreact to a poor spell and will call for a changing of the guard. I’m sure most of them don’t even believe what they’re saying, but after what looks like a poor start to the season, Howe will be feeling the pressure like never before.
Eddie Howe is getting his first taste of the pressure
In Howe’s first half-season in charge there were no expectations, so when Newcastle lost it was just par for the course that season. Then in his first full season, the defeats were often spread out so there was no real mounting pressure.
Now with three in a row, the pressure is starting to show. Although you wouldn’t know it to listen to Eddie Howe as he knows what we all know – this kind of thing happens and our fixtures at the start of this season have been a nightmare.
The Athletic spoke to an anonymous club insider who has summed up the feelings behind the scenes saying: “We feel closer than ever. We’ve travelled and grown so much together. We’re all delighted with Eddie.”
While those quotes were from Friday, before the 3-1 defeat at Brighton I can’t imagine for one second that that sentiment has changed.
As far as the fan backlash goes, that’s clearly just all online as the fans in the American Express Stadium never let up for a second on Sunday, singing well beyond the final whistle.
It’s still early days and far too soon to be overreacting
As bad as the start to this season looks it’s important to note that we’re only one point worse off than this time last season. Also, Manchester United, who finished above us last season, had a similarly slow start to their season. It’s far from game over and Eddie Howe is the man to lead us out of this.
Last season Newcastle picked up 14 draws over the course of the season. This time if we can convert a bunch of those draws to wins these opening defeats won’t look half as bad.
There’s a long way to go and we’ve still got the talent to do much better. Whatever’s going on that’s making the side misfire will be sorted and Newcastle will go on to have a good season. And that’s coming from a pessimist.
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