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Eddie Howe isn't typically prone to dramatics or grand media statements. So by his standards, his media briefing after the weekend's 3-1 defeat counts as a furious outburst. Newcastle scored first but West Ham were ahead by the interval, while also striking the woodwork and seeing a spot-kick revoked by VAR, prompting Howe to execute a three substitutions at the half-time.

“That was the frustrating thing about the first half,” the coach said. “I almost could have taken anyone off and I think this indicated of where we were at that stage during the match and it’s very, very rare for me to have that impression. In fact, I don’t think I have during my tenure as manager of Newcastle, therefore I believed the team required a significant change at the break. This explains why I did those decisions.”

Anthony Gordon, Nick Woltemade and Emil Krafth all came off at the interval and Newcastle did stabilise to an extent in the second half, but never really looking like they might fight back into the contest against a side that had won only one of their last nine fixtures. Considering the congestion the middle of the table is, with a mere three-point gap separating the top spots from mid-table, and nine points between the upper and lower ranks, a run of 12 points from 10 games has not left the Magpies adrift but, equally, they must not end the campaign in thirteenth place.

The Problem of Perception

The challenge partially is one of public view. In the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the club possess the wealthiest backers in the world. The expectation when the Saudi fund bought 80% of the team in 2021 was that it would bring a game-changing impact, similar to Roman Abramovich had at Chelsea or Sheikh Mansour had at Manchester City. The distinction is that both of those owners assumed control prior to the introduction of financial fair play rules (and the ongoing allegations against City relate to whether they violated those guidelines once they were in place).

Financial restrictions limit the capacity of owners, no matter how wealthy, to invest funds on their teams and so in that sense likely might have slowed any Saudi attempt to elevate the team to the standard of City. But there is no need for Newcastle’s expenditure to have been quite as cautious as it has; they could have invested further and remained within the limit – or just accepted a relatively meagre European fine given their big issue is more with the European than the domestic rules.

Stadium Investment and PSR Rules

Additionally, stadium development is exempted from PSR calculations; the easiest method to raise income to create additional financial headroom would be to extend or renovate the stadium. Considering the location of the home ground, with listed buildings on two sides, practically that probably implies constructing an entirely new stadium. There was talk in spring of possibly undertaking the short move to Leazes Park – opposition from local groups could surely have been overcome with a commitment to create a new park on the existing ground location – but there has not been no movement on that proposal. There has been substantial retrenchment from the PIF on a variety of projects as it refocuses on domestic affairs; the approach to Newcastle seems entirely in keeping with that strategic shift.

The Alexander Isak Situation

The star striker saga was born of that conflict. A more confident leadership might have portrayed his transfer as essential to release funds for further investment; rather there was a unsuccessful attempt to keep him. That meant the team started the campaign amidst a feeling of disappointment even with the acquisitions of several new players. The start was indifferent: one win in their initial six games.

Yet it seemed a turning point was reached. They secured five in six before the weekend, a run that featured convincing wins of Union Saint-Gilloise and a Portuguese club in the Champions League. That’s why the display against West Ham was such a shock. The issue perhaps is that Newcastle’s approach is extremely intense, high-energy; a minor decrease in intensity can have profound effects. Maybe the pressure of domestic, Champions League and cup matches, five fixtures in 15 days, had got to them. Woltemade featured in each of those games and looked particularly weary.

The Nature of Contemporary Football

That’s the nature of modern football. Coaches have to be prepared to make changes. The manager has been unlucky that the forward's fitness issue has left him short of attacking options but, regardless of how reasonable the reasons, the weekend's performance was unacceptable –especially following scoring first at a ground primed to turn on its home team.

Howe will hope it was merely a temporary setback, one of those days when everybody is below par at once, but if Newcastle are to qualify for the European competition in the future, let alone eventually mount an actual championship bid, they cannot be as inconsistent as this.