Drivers know the time has been extended when the red fuel light on the dashboard starts flashing. It all depends on the make and model of the car, but it will have 30, 40, possibly even 50 miles left in the tank. Eddie Howe’s problem is that, unlike a driver, he can’t direct his increasingly depleted crew to the shelter of a nearby gas station.
“We are missing a lot of players,” says Newcastle’s manager. “You can keep going for a while, but the longer it goes on, the harder it gets. “We have no chance of changing players.”
Instead, a Newcastle squad bereft of 12 injured or, in Sandro Tonali’s case, suspended top-flight professionals, must play their fifth match in 15 days at Tottenham on Sunday, before facing Milan in the Champions League at St James’ Park on Wednesday. For now, rotation remains a dream.
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Given the size of the injury list and the seriousness of some of the cases, it is a small miracle that Howe has seen his side progress so successfully in recent times, but Thursday’s 3-0 defeat against Everton made it clear that flashing warning lights He reminded me that he couldn’t make it. can be challenged indefinitely.
But Howe wants to prevent Tottenham from extending their one-point advantage in the Premier League to Newcastle. “Spurs was always going to be a big game for both teams,” he says. “We are under no illusions about the importance of this match.”
The potential significance of this suggests that Kieran Trippier will not be given the rest he clearly desires. Trippier has often been Newcastle’s best player and, in his manager’s words, “the catalyst for a lot of good things that have happened”. However, the English right-back’s uncharacteristic mistakes gave Everton victory. Trippier, 33, looks miserable but also indispensable.
One of the reasons Howe arrives at the training ground at 6.30am every weekday morning is his obsession with continuing to fight on all fronts, but perhaps it’s time to prioritize competitions?
Recently Newcastle managers never looked heartbroken when the team crashed out of the cup early. This wasn’t due to any lack of ambition, it was just a situation where Rafael Benítez and co prioritized relegation over cup glory.
Under Saudi ownership the powers have changed significantly, but the need to comply with financially fair player regulations, arguably excessive pressure play and sheer bad luck have left a team incapable of competing in the Premier League, the Champions League and the Champions League simultaneously caused him to stay. League and FA Cups.
Newcastle have achieved better success than expected after finishing fourth last season but their desire to remain firmly on the European map suggests the owners are desperate to return to next season’s edition of the continent’s showpiece competition. To complicate the task, they are also favored to claim the club’s first major trophy since the Fairs Cup in 1969.
Howe copes with the resulting pressure by placing himself in an almost hermetically sealed world. He devotes his free time to his family but the approach is so unique that neighbors in the suburb of Gosforth sometimes do not recognize a man whose determination to avoid distractions prompts him to leave home in disguise.
The geographical center of Newcastle lies three kilometers from his home at Town Moor, but Howe is believed to have made a shopping trip in the city center since his arrival two years ago. Eating out at restaurants remains rare. Long gone are the days when fans would encounter Alan Pardew pushing a tram around Waitrose in Ponteland or Benítez shopping in the south Gosforth branch of Sainsbury’s.
Considering the improvement in the performances of individual players (especially Jamaal Lascelles, Fabian Schär, Joelinton and Miguel Almiron), he is clearly doing something right. Yet Howe’s “density is our identity” mantra has its limits. Perhaps tellingly, injured defender Dan Burn told the BBC on Monday that he felt “psychologically” he had “played a whole season” come the October international break.
Whether the exciting high-tempo pressing style is sustainable in the long term remains debatable (reinforcements may be expected in the transfer market in January) but the difference between the team’s home and away records suggests this is a side that plays largely on the adrenaline that St James’s provide. ‘ Park’s enthusiasm.
While Newcastle’s home record is almost flawless, they have beaten Sheffield United 8-0 away in the Premier League once. “It’s hard to understand,” Howe says. “Our away form last year was very good.” Tottenham would be a great place to start turning things around.
All eyes will be on Newcastle’s Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, who is out of charge at Everton, and he will once again assist Nick Pope, who will be sidelined until at least April with a complex shoulder dislocation. Howe has absolutely no reason to question the dedication of the Pope’s assistant, who wears goalkeeper gloves as he wanders around his home during lockdown because he “misses the job I love so much”.
Perhaps the more relevant question is: Are Howe and his band of “incredible” actors trying almost too hard?