The frustration that emanates from the stands of St James Park and the ennui that appears to have afflicted the players is about something much deeper than dropped points.
This is an existential feeling, a strained angst defined not by league position but more abstract ideas of where Newcastle United are going and the limitations modern football places on their ambition.
For the second Champions League campaign in a row Newcastle’s adventure in Europe has come at the expense of league form. The story of Eddie Howe’s tenure is a surge into the top five and then a fall back down again; a butting up against the ceiling that is beginning to look like a Sisyphean task.
It is affecting the players as much as is the fans. Watching the Newcastle team labour through Premier League matches, drifting without the correct “mindset”, to use Howe’s word, only to raise the temperature dramatically in the Champions League is to watch a team hollowed out by the realities of the modern game.
The Premier League’s Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR) and UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations (FFP) might not have been designed to prevent clubs from progressing into the elite but that is what they have done, and Newcastle are not the first to find themselves lost, unanchored, as they feel the colour drain out of their domestic pursuits.
Aston Villa have suffered the same fate earlier this season and it is hugely impressive that Unai Emery’s side have managed to recover from their comedown, although perhaps that is simply because they are earlier in the journey than Newcastle. Maybe by the time Villa are in the Champions League for the second time, and the pointlessness of bobbing in that space is truly revealed, they will face the same fate as Newcastle.
Villa also have the advantage of sticking together, whereas Newcastle’s malaise was deepened – or rather, their existential concerns were brutally exposed – by the sale of Alexander Isak to Liverpool. His departure symbolised the gulf between Newcastle and Liverpool and the impossibility of breaching that divide.
That’s not to say Newcastle, and Howe in particular, could not have handled things better.
His 4-5-1 formation looks increasingly passive this season as Joelinton, Sandro Tonali, and Bruno Guimaraes struggle to find form. Jacob Ramsey is long overdue a run in the side in place of the worst performer, Joelinton, whom Ramsey was signed to compete with. The tenacity and the freshness of the former Villa midfielder could give everyone a boost.
They need it. Newcastle have lost three away Premier League games in a row and are now winless in nine away from St. James Park, although suggestions their problems are predominantly about away form misreads their 2025/26 results.
Howe’s side have won three home games, beating Wolves, Nottingham Forest, and Fulham. Wolves had lost three from three when the sides met, Forest had failed to win any of their eight matches in all competitions when their game at Newcastle came around, and Fulham were on a three-game losing streak.
Newcastle could not have asked for easier home matches, given the context, than the three they won. They have been even worse than results would suggest.
A more optimistic angle says they are still adapting to a stylistic shift from Isak to Nick Woltemade and, with Yoan Wissa out injured, we are yet to see Newcastle’s attack in full force. This does help explain why Newcastle have only scored 11 Premier League goals, the fourth fewest in the division, and why they have dropped more points from winning positions (9) than anyone else.
Newcastle don’t have the killer instinct to get the cushion goal. Maybe that will change when Wissa and Anthony Gordon come back from injury and when Anthony Elanga finds his feet.
But probably not, or at least not to the extent Newcastle fans would hope. Their problems are effectively insurmountable, a natural jadedness that comes from the realisation there is no path into the top tier no matter how wealthy your owners.
The best Newcastle can hope for is to continue being a cup team. In that regard Howe has pedigree, while good form in the Champions League should keep supporters happy for the time being. But long-term fans and players have to find a way to accept that, depressingly, this is as good as it gets.
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