Newcastle United came into the 2023/24 season with so much optimism off the back of an incredible season, which saw them get to a League Cup final for the first time since the 1998/99 season and securing Champions League football for the first time at St James Park since 2002.
Eddie Howe and his side really set the standard in his and the new owners' first full season, which was an incredible achievement, considering they were in a relegation battle at the start of the 2021/22 season when Mike Ashley sold Newcastle for £305M.
However, a tough start to the new Premier League campaign with four games played, one win and three losses, leaves Newcastle 14th in the table, putting a little bit of pressure on head coach Howe for the first time as Newcastle manager.
It is important to remember that Newcastle's first four fixtures were very tough with Villa at home, Manchester City away, Liverpool at home and Brighton away, however, the Magpies would have been hoping for more than three points on the board by the first international break.
The Magpies were unbeaten in pre-season with five wins and two draws and continued that fine form on the opening day of the season, with a 5-1 win over Aston Villa with goals for new signings Sandro Tonali from AC Milan and Harvey Barnes from Leicester City.
Then Howe's side travelled to the Etihad Stadium to face the champions Manchester City, who are looking to defend their Premier League title after beating Arsenal to it last season. The game resulted in a narrow 1-0 defeat to the champions with a goal in the 31st minute from Julian Alvarez, which turned out to be the winner.
Following on, Newcastle were back at home in front of their loyal supporters in a big game against Liverpool; it ended in a 2-1 win for the visitors despite Eddie Howe's side taking the lead and playing against ten-men Liverpool. The Reds battled through after that moment of madness from Virgil Van Dijk which saw him be given a straight red by on-field referee John Brooks - his first for the Reds.
Newcastle then travelled to the south coast to face Brighton who were also looking to bounce back from a shock 3-1 defeat at home to West Ham, so it was set up to be a good game with two attacking teams needing to bounce back after defeats.
It was Brighton who bounced back after a dominant display from Roberto De Zerbi's side with a hat-trick from 18-year-old Evan Ferguson. Callum Wilson, after coming off the bench, scored in the third minute of added time which turned out to be just a consolation and Newcastle's only goal of the game.
Do mentality issues paint the bigger picture?
It is not just the results that are concerning Newcastle fans, because the mentality is also a major concern after leading Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool at St James Park with a goal from former Evertonian Anthony Gordon. It seemed comfortable, but they somehow went on to lose the game to ten-man Liverpool 2-1, through two goals from Darwin Nunez (81, 90+3) to punish Newcastle.
It is important for Howe and his players to reset and bounce back quickly after the international break; they will be hoping to do that in front of the Newcastle faithful on September 16th.
Newcastle are still on track for a really successful season with lots to look forward to, but the start will be worrying the Newcastle board.
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Champions League Action
Newcastle are in action in the Champions League this month, after being drawn last week in 'the group of death' seeing AC Milan, PSG and Borussia Dortmund complete the group. This will add a lot of pressure on Eddie Howe in particular, because being back in the Champions League means so much to the club and the fans.
The Newcastle fans are looking forward to playing these big teams in the Champions League, but especially in front of the St James Park faithful, with 52,305 fans in full voice making it the place that no team wanted to go to last season. Many teams just simply could not deal with the atmosphere and pressure like Tottenham, who suffered a 6-1 defeat back in April.
Newcastle have the money now to get any manager they want with PIF now owning an 80 per cent share of Newcastle - and they are worth an eye-watering £700bn.
For some context, the previous richest club in the Premier League was Manchester City, whose owners are worth £23bn.
While it is important to note that it is the PIF who are worth £700bn and not the club, that figure - 22 times greater than City's worth - gives an indication of the spending power of Newcastle's new owners, so that might be in the mind of Eddie Howe if this form continues, with top managers such as Joachim Löw, Zinédine Zidane, Antonio Conte and Julian Nagelsmann all currently out of work and keen to get back into management.
However, it is too early to be thinking about Eddie Howe's future, but he will know better than anyone else that if results stay as they are by Christmas, he could see himself without a job. The next few league games after the break see the Magpies face the likes of Brentford at home and Sheffield United away which are two winnable games.
Newcastle fans will be expecting to see progress this season whether that is improving on fourth place, winning a domestic trophy or getting out of the 'group of death' in the UEFA Champions League.
A long season ahead for the Toon Army but you rather get the impression that it is now or never for Eddie Howe to turn it around.
