Ever since Eddie Howe took over as manager of Newcastle in November 2021, he has been viewed by Magpies fans as the one to take the Toon back into the big-stage, winning trophies, and competing against Europe's elite.
While the latter may be true, with the Toon army facing Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan, in the Champions League last season, the trophy is likely to yet again elude the Magpies.
This campaign may have provided some memorable moments for Howe and the team, almost beating Paris Saint-Germain home and away, if not for a last minute controversial VAR decision.
After the second gameweek, the Toon were sitting pretty at the top of the table, and had their eyes set upon the knockout stages. Come gameweek six, they failed to even make the Europa League, and following a poor mid-season run of form, Newcastle would not take part in European Competition in the 2024-25 season.
Therefore, the start to this campaign really should have been strong, with only the Carabao Cup as a distraction to the league campaign, the Toon have played three more games this season, than they had at this point last campaign, yet have got six less points this year than last.
While some problems originate from outside
The summer appeared to be shaky for the club. The departure of Dan Ashworth as sporting director threw the summer plans into disarray, giving new man Paul Mitchell little to work with. The signings of Lloyd Kelly and William Osula are hardly transformative, and have provided very little to the team so far.
Odysseas Vlachodimos and John Ruddy completed the summer signings line-up, with the only competitive appearance from either being the second half Carabao Cup performance against AFC Wimbledon from Vlachodimos.
So, the summer business, has not supported Howe sufficiently, but the team looks completely unrecognisable at points to what was seen at both ends of last season, with the team shining against teams at both ends of the table.
Now the team, plays with low levels of intensity, and without an overall purpose at points in games and under-performing starts such as Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon are not helping matters.
Gordon, who despite signing a new contract last week, has been very off the pace so far this season, perhaps scarred by his experiences with England during Euro 2024.
Isak on the other hand has been hampered by a toe injury, but has mustered only two goals in the Premier League so far this season from 3.5 expected goals (XG).
The promotion of Bruno Guimaraes to on-pitch captain has had a seemingly negative impact on performance, with lack of leadership evident on the pitch at the moment. Despite excelling as usual in his role, the Brazilian appears to lack the authority of players such as Kieran Trippier, Jamaal Lascelles and Dan Burn.
So, certain situations are out of Howe's control, but in-game management is certainly in the control of him and Jason Tindall, his assistant dating back to his time with Bournemouth, and that is clearly a problem for Newcastle, on the whole, with poor tactics and decisions causing trouble.
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Problems have been created by Howe and his staff
Team Selection
Howe has got the team wrong on multiple occasions this year, or at least it appears like that to the outside eye. While the defensive personnel has remained relatively similar to the majority of the season, the problems lie further up the pitch.
Howe's favourite 4-3-3 formation, with a flat midfield, and inside forwards on the wings is not working. The toon have used the same formation for almost the entirety of Howe's time in charge. As a result, the magpies appear to have become found out, by opposition teams.
A different approach may be needed from the magpies now, as seen during Newcastle's 4-0 win against Tottenham in April, where now Nottingham Forest player Elliot Anderson and Jacob Murphy played as wing-backs in front of a back three, creating a 3-4-3.
Although Howe was practically forced into this due to an unprecedented injury crisis, it does at least show that there is some variation in the thinking of both Howe and his backroom staff.
The appointment of James Bunce as head of performance, may also play a role in the changing Newcastle style of play. Brought in by Mitchell, who he worked with at AS Monaco, where he was able to implement a heavy possession-based style of football, which is being seen more this season at the Toon.
Since Howe came in, the football played has been entertaining and at points held a heavy counter-attacking influence.
It is not surprising therefore that in games this season, such as against Manchester City, where the team struggled to retain possession, more chances were created, and it felt like a vintage Howe performance, similar to the 3-3 draw with the Citizens in August 2022.
Therefore, the appointment of Bunce, appears to potentially have scuppered Howe's style of football, creating cracks in the Newcastle system.
However, Howe's refusal to field a natural defensive midfielder has created the biggest problem on the pitch. The space that opposition players are finding between the aging central defenders, and the flat midfield three, as seen with Cole Palmer's goal on Sunday at Stamford Bridge, needs to be resolved.
However, without a natural defensive midfielder in the squad, this should be a position to prioritise in the increasingly important January transfer window.
The pre-planned subs
Sandro Tonali has had a turbulent first 16 months on Tyneside. Starting off exceptionally, with a goal in his first competitive game, on the opening day of the Premier League season, when the toon army dismantled a dismal Aston Villa side 5-1.
However, from there, it has all gone downhill, with the Italian being banned from football in October 2023 for 10 months, due to betting offences.
Returning in the Carabao Cup at Nottingham Forest, the Italian brought some much needed technical ability to the midfield, and was impressive throughout.
Shortly after, he returned to the Italian national team set-up, and played 90 minutes against both France and Israel, in the game with Les Bleus, he provided a remarkable back-heel volley to Federico Dimarco.
Yet at Newcastle, Tonali is only playing 60 minutes a game at the moment. This is a bizzare situation, that even occurred last season, during his first games of his time in black and white.
He has only played one full 90 minutes since his arrival last June, in a draw at West Ham, and this was down to a lack of experienced substitutes due to a substantial injury crisis.
Therefore, it is clear to see that for some reason Howe does not trust Tonali fully. This feels remarkable, as Tonali was a £55 million pound signing, and clearly does not lack the fitness, as he can manage more than 180 minutes in four days for Italy.
His seemingly pre-planned sub with Sean Longstaff is detrimental to Newcastle at the moment. Longstaff lacks the outstanding technical ability Tonali holds, and is not as clever off the ball as the Italian.
As seen at Stamford Bridge, Newcastle, despite losing had relative control of the game and were creating chances. After Tonali went off, the game was much more open and the Chelsea threat was re-opened on the counter attack.
This sub, seems even more bizzare, when fellow midfielders such as Bruno Guimaraes and especially Joelinton are struggling in games recently. Joelinton was exceptional in the first game of the season, against Southampton, but has barely been seen since.
This sub, therefore, has got to stop, if Newcastle want to start picking up wins. Points were to be had on the weekend at Stamford Bridge before Tonali went off, but after Longstaff came on, Newcastle mustered only three shots, in over half an hour of football.
So, is Howe still the one for the job?
Howe has lost support from sections of the Newcastle united fan-base. He was not often seen from members of the worldwide football community, as the one to take Newcastle onto the world stage, and these predictions are starting to take shape seemingly.
His position is starting to become unstable, but not unrecoverable. The positive changes he has made to the football club over the last three years, outweigh the current problems, but failure to recapture form over the next few months could be fatal for the Englishman.
With very few high level managers available right now, Mitchell and those in the hierarchy are unlikely to be chasing a potential replacement behind the scenes, but reports of a poor working relationship between the Sporting director and Howe are unlikely to help the latter if a new face is deemed to be required.
However, the club are clearly a long way off facing this dilemma at this stage in time. Howe has been insufficiently backed from those at the top over the summer, and the changes that were required to the playing squad weren't completed.
In selling both Anderson, and fellow prospect Yankuba Minteh, both players who would improve the current squad, the Magpies lost crucial rotation options, and appear to have a lack of plan B.
However, Plan A clearly doesn't work, especially with the pre-planned subs and tactics, so something has got to change soon. The toon have a challenging yet not impossible run of games coming up, and failure to pick up crucial wins, especially at home, could see the Toon army drop further in the table, and end up competing towards the lower reaches of the table come the end of the season.
This would be catastrophic for the clubs image, who want to be competing with the very best at the top of both the English and European stage. Key players such as Isak, Guimaraes and even Tonali would be likely to leave, and the club would need to hit a huge reset button before progressing again.
Newcastle financially cannot afford to finish in the bottom end of the table, so while the Toon will do everything in their power to avoid this, Eddie Howe could be the first in the firing line, if results do not improve in the next few weeks.
This would be a devastating way to end a quite remarkable tenure as a job once described as the "hardest in football", by former head coach John Carver. Howe has revolutionised the club on the pitch, while he has been there to oversee the key changes off the pitch as well.
If he was to leave, it is highly plausible he would go down as a club hero, one that will always be welcomed back to the north-east. However, for now, he deserves the time and effort of the board, the players, and more importantly the fans.
