After a mainly successful 2023, the year is truly beginning to wane; in fact, the campaign may potentially be derailed entirely based on current form.
Eddie Howe and company won’t have much to write home about with only one victory in their previous six games across all competitions, including elimination from two cup tournaments.
Even though they were eliminated from the Champions League and Carabao Cup quarterfinals by the narrowest of margins, Newcastle is far from resembling their typical Premier League appearance. The most recent setback came from a 1-0 loss on the road against Luton Town, which was caused by the lone goal from former midfielder Andros Townsend.
Here’s the five key talking points from the encounter.
There is nothing new about travel sickness.
Newcastle United’s away form has been terrible since the end of the previous season, especially in the Premier League. Their position at the bottom of the top flight away table this season is hardly surprising.
The victory over Sheffield United and two awful away days in the cups have covered over some terrible journeys, with performances at places like Bournemouth, Luton, Wolves, and more that were egregiously below average.
To put it plainly, Newcastle’s position in the table will not alter if this stays the same. It is not viable to rely so much on home form.
Lack of spark is evident
Newcastle could have continued playing for another 90 minutes and still would have had difficulty breaking down the Luton door, despite a slight tap on the door in the second half and a header from Callum Wilson in the first half.
Luton went into survival mode in the second half because they had something to cling to. But United lacked the ingenuity, talent, cunning, and inventiveness to create nearly enough opportunities.
It should be noted that they accomplished this with what was likely their first-choice forwards present on the field.
Some believe that the issue is with the team sitting in versus United, but Newcastle has to generate more, and they’re simply not performing well enough in the closing third to be worthy of points right now.
Even with the 4-2-3-1, Howe displayed some hints of a backup plan, but it was still a long way from producing a meaningful outcome.
Gordon-Wilson-Almiron discussed
Right now, the front three are not functional. Since everyone has lately been flogged, part of this may be due to exhaustion. They do, however, need to improve greatly.
When Almiron experiences these frequent dips, his purple regions seem to be in a separate dimension. His play has been so bad of late that he can sometimes hardly play a pass to a Newcastle shirt. That is not a reflection on his work rate or effort; they are excellent; rather, it is more about the execution, which might be much better.
Wilson didn’t move much against the Hatters until he was fighting hard, which caused issues for his team elsewhere. Most of the time, the ball just kept coming back, in part because of poor serve.
Gordon appears to be far below the expectations he set for himself this year. Although he is a gentleman and nearly scored an assist, it appears that he is having consistent problems, week after week. It’s difficult to see how he will get the break he needs. To be honest, Almiron is probably in the same boat.
Improved Trippier
At Kenilworth Road, Kieran Trippier made a much-needed comeback to form, but it clearly had little to no bearing on the outcome.
It is noteworthy, though, that the underperforming England international was far more collected at right-back and was essentially back to his normal attacking self.
Never rains in pours
The Newcastle United captain, Jamaal Lascelles, has now added his name to an ever-growing list of injuries after hobbling out of the game in the opening forty-five minutes.
Though problems have been more noticeable in midfield and up front, it suddenly feels like the Magpies are just one or two injuries away from another defensive meltdown. Fortunately, they have Sven Botman available as a substitute.
