Sport

Eddie Howe under pressure after Tyne-Wear derby loss

As Eddie Howe led his Newcastle United players around the St James’ Park pitch after defeat to Sunderland on Saturday, even he must have sensed a shift in the reception he was receiving from the supporters.

It has been a tough season for Newcastle, but losing the Tyne-Wear derby just days after conceding seven at Barcelona compounded its worst week. The result was bad enough, but the manner of it, meekly surrendering yet another lead in the second half with very little desire or idea to hang on, felt pertinent.

Howe is four and a half years into his reign at Newcastle and, whatever happens next, he will forever be a legend at the club. He has led them to two Champions League campaigns and, most importantly, ended a 70-year wait for a domestic trophy last season.

Giving the fans a lap of appreciation has been commonplace during his tenure, and even in defeat, it has been well received for the most part. Losing to your local rivals is always tough to take, but the reason such a hostile reaction is so significant is because it may be a point of no return for the relationship with the manager for many fans.

Online discontent has been growing for some time, but having previously only been beaten by Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Barcelona at home this season, it is now four defeats in five in front of their crowd. Sunderland was the worst of them, especially after the passive manner of their loss in the reverse fixture back in December.

In fact, the Black Cats are unbeaten in this fixture since 2011, winning eight games in that time. There is a caveat of no meetings for the last decade in the league, but this is what really stings for Newcastle: while they’ve rewritten their history in recent years, Sunderland were relegated to League One, returned and still proved they had a greater grasp of the future’s importance.

It has been a difficult season for Newcastle generally, too. They are languishing in lower midtable and have never looked like qualifying for Europe’s premier club competition again this season. There are mitigating circumstances; going deep in three cup competitions has stretched their squad and minimised the training time for Howe, robbing him of his particular strength. The sale of Alexander Isak destroyed any sense of building on last season’s momentum, and with neither a CEO or sporting director in place last summer, recruitment was rushed and has proven inadequate.

Yet issues with the team’s mentality in games, poor management of in-play situations and repetitive substitutions with minimal impact have undercut Newcastle. All of these are problems for the manager to solve and he has failed to do so consistently; the Sunderland game was perhaps the most prevalent example, and that is why supporters are beginning to lose faith.

Howe still has the backing of many fans and, crucially both publicly and privately, the board. But this is undoubtedly the first time he has faced this level of scrutiny. After a recent home loss to Brentford, he told the media he needed to seriously consider whether he was still the man for the job, later believing he was. That confidence didn’t waver in the aftermath on Sunday, though fewer people now agree with him.

Howe going would only be half an answer to big question’s over Newcastle’s future direction. The way he has built them up during his reign has made them incredible underdogs, extremely effective at disrupting and making elite teams feel uncomfortable. But Newcastle actively want to be one of those elite teams, setting the tone, playing on the front foot, asking questions and not answering them. They need a manager with experience at the level they believe they are heading, rather than a lot of the names linked, who like Howe have impressed on a smaller scale and may believe they’ve earned the chance to succeed on a bigger one.

But Howe has previously shown he can develop at Newcastle and, if the other options are no more qualified than him, there is little point replacing him.

Chances are, he will be backed by Newcastle and the dissenting members of the fanbase will need to accept that. But doubts over his suitability are not unfair; this season there are real concerns over whether he can transform Newcastle into the sort of club who can thrive at the top.

He’ll need to change pretty quickly, because expectations are only going to get bigger as time goes on.