Sometimes, it’s good to forget about football. Forget about a match, or the whole club itself, and just shelve it for a little while. That’s what I did on Sunday night. I tore myself away from the moping and the jeering on social media, climbed into bed and watched the new season of Stranger Things, before falling asleep for the next 12 hours.
I planned to continue this footballing detox into the following day, but instead, I woke up to a message reminding me that I was scheduled to write the next preview. Bollocks.
So, here I am, at my desk once again. Ready to somehow conjure up something to say about the absolute last people I want to be talking about. I’ll give it a go…
When you’re exceptionally devoted to something, you live a life of extremes. The highs feel so good that you think they will last forever; but the inevitable lows come in to hit you like a tonne of bricks.
The glorious wins over Manchester City and Everton felt like a turning point for our Premier League campaign. We’d smoothed over the cracks and our team were finally playing cohesively. However, consistently throwing away wins against Marseille, Tottenham and Leverkusen were just as demoralising as the batterings by West Ham and Brentford. Even beating Burnley couldn’t lift our spirits very high.
Then, along came the derby. There were a lot of us who didn’t want the fixture to happen, but that didn’t mean the players should’ve acted like that on the pitch. Flat, lazy and uninspiring – completely different to the side that faced the same team two seasons ago.
As for them, yes, they’ve improved their side a great deal since then, and their results show it. But, their actual football playing? Shockingly bad. I was intrigued to see this new kid on the block that was disrupting the Premier League hierarchy. Show us what you’ve got, I kept thinking, but it never surfaced. Their mediocrity was the most astounding takeaway from the entire game. Honestly, I think they played very poorly; it’s just that we were even worse.
Woltemade is one of my favourite players in the squad, simply because he is just so exciting to watch, so his error was really heartbreaking. I feel for him a great deal, and certainly don’t hold it against him considering he was surrounded by players who were just as unhelpful as him – with the exception of Bruno.
The In-Betweeners?
I generally dislike the phrase that is often trotted out when teams are struggling, but in this instance, I wonder if Newcastle being “in transition” is the real issue we are facing with our current struggles in the league, and away from home in Europe’s self styled, premier competition. I want to be clear, I am not making excuses here, and what we saw…
Whilst I have a lot of faith in Woltemade, and I still haven’t seen enough of Wissa to make a fair assessment on him, this was the first game of this season where I found myself genuinely missing Alexander Isak. The audience living in my head for whenever I write these previews just started booing and throwing popcorn at me, but I know that there’s a few of them very quietly murmuring in agreement.
He’s like the ex-boyfriend who you miss dearly but too much has happened and been said to ever go back to him, so you just cry until the pain goes away. And, judging by the way his season’s going, I think there’s part of him shedding tears for us, too. Even if it is on a bed full of money.
But, we can’t dwell on ‘what ifs.’ What is coming is the final (arguably the biggest) match of our three-game week. We play Fulham, in the quarter final of the Carabao Cup. Wor Cup.
In the last few weeks, the whispers calling for Howe’s head have steadily grown into shouts, blasted all over social media. There’s a lot of tweets that preface how he’s the greatest manager we’ve had… but that the last game was unforgiveable and that his number is up.
If you’ve read any of my previous previews, you’ll know that I am firmly pro-Howe. However, Wednesday will be a gigantic test for him, one that he needs to keep the momentum up for over Christmas and into the New Year. I certainly don’t think he should go any time soon, but if things don’t pick up, I think it could be over by the end of the season. A tremendous shame.
As for Fulham, we can obviously expect that they will bring their strongest side. They’ve got a couple of injuries and three of their squad have headed off to AFCON, but the main player to keep an eye on is Welshman Harry Wilson. In their last fixture against Burnley, the forward assisted two goals before scoring the third. He’ll be the one keeping Hall company.
Our previous fixture against them was a testy one, only salvaged by a last-minute winner from Bruno. At this point? Let that happen again. I’d rather the game be a smash-and-grab job than have to watch us try to defend a lead from the 85th minute onwards. If the smell of silverware is what kicks those players into gear, then so bloody be it! What a crazy statement to make about Newcastle United…
Oh, and sing. Our last match against them was the flattest game I’ve been to in years. I thought it was because I was up in level six in the unsold posh seats, but no, it was genuinely dreadful. If you want these Champions League nights and trophy parades, then you better open your mouth like you’re the lead in the nativity and fucking sing!
Okay, back to being zen now, but the show must go on.
1-0.
Grace Laidler @gracewillhuntin
