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Eddie Howe is not given to dramatics or sweeping public statements. Based on his standards, his press conference after Sunday’s loss to West Ham counts as a furious tirade. His side took an early lead but the opposition took the lead by half-time, while also striking the woodwork and seeing a spot-kick revoked by VAR, prompting Howe to make a three substitutions at the half-time.

“The opening period was particularly irritating,” Howe said. “Virtually any player could have been substituted and I believe that was a reflection of our performance level at that stage in the game and it's extremely uncommon for me to have that impression. Actually, I don’t think having done so since I’ve been head coach of the club, so I felt the squad required some shaking up at half-time. This explains why I made those decisions.”

Anthony Gordon, Nick Woltemade and Emil Krafth all came off at the interval and the team did stabilise to an extent in the latter period, without ever really looking like they might fight back into the contest against an opponent that had secured just a single victory of their last nine fixtures. Given how packed the middle of the standings currently is, with a mere three-point gap dividing third from 11th, and nine points between the upper and lower ranks, a run of 12 points from ten matches has not placed Newcastle adrift but, equally, they cannot finish the season in 13th.

The Issue of Expectations

The problem to an extent is one of public view. With the Saudi PIF, the club possess the richest owners in the world. The expectation at the time the PIF bought 80% of the team in 2021 was that it would bring a game-changing impact, as the former Chelsea owner achieved at Stamford Bridge or Sheikh Mansour did at the Etihad. The distinction is that those two investors took over before the introduction of FFP rules (and the current allegations against City relate to whether they violated those regulations once they were in place).

Financial restrictions limit the capacity of proprietors, no matter how wealthy, to spend money on their teams and therefore likely would have slowed every Saudi effort to elevate the team to the standard of City. But it wasn't necessary for Newcastle’s expenditure to have been so restrained as it has been; they could have invested further and remained within the threshold – or simply taken a relatively meagre Uefa penalty given their big problem is primarily with the continental than the Premier League rules.

Stadium Investment and PSR Rules

Besides which, infrastructure spending is excluded from Profit and Sustainability calculations; the simplest method to increase revenue to create more financial headroom would be to expand or renovate the arena. Given the location of the home ground, with protected structures on multiple sides, in reality that probably implies constructing an completely new stadium. There was talk in March of potentially undertaking the short move to a local park – resistance from community organizations could surely have been surmounted with a commitment to create a replacement green space on the current stadium site – but there has not been no movement on that proposal. There has occurred significant cutbacks from the Saudi fund on a variety of projects as it refocuses on domestic affairs; the attitude to the football club seems entirely in alignment with that strategic shift.

Player Sales Situation

The Alexander Isak saga was born of that tension. A more confident leadership might have portrayed his transfer as essential to release funds for further investment; rather there was a vain effort to keep him. That meant the team started the campaign amid a sense of disappointment even with the acquisitions of several new players. The opening was mixed: one win in their initial six games.

Yet it appeared a turning point had been turned. They secured five in six prior to the weekend, a run that included demolitions of a Belgian side and a Portuguese club in the European competition. That’s why the performance against West Ham was so surprising. The problem maybe is that Newcastle’s style is extremely intense, high-energy; a slight drop-off in energy can have significant effects. Maybe the pressure of domestic, European and cup matches, five fixtures in 15 days, had taken its toll. Woltemade started all five games and looked particularly fatigued.

The Nature of Modern Football

This is the nature of today's football. Coaches have to be prepared to rotate. The manager has been unfortunate that the forward's fitness issue has left him lacking attacking options but, no matter how valid the explanations, the weekend's performance was unacceptable –especially following scoring first at a stadium primed to criticize its home team.

Howe will hope it was merely a temporary setback, an off-day when everybody is off-colour simultaneously, but if the Magpies are to qualify for the Champions League in the future, not to mention eventually launch an actual championship bid, they cannot be as inconsistent as this.