Meeting with Mackems puts Eddie Howe in a precarious position

With four defeats in their last five league games, numerous injuries and a tough schedule, the manager is in a tricky spot

File photo dated 13-12-2023 of Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe who will not put a target on Newcastle’s back as they attempt to continue their progress. Issue date: Friday December 22, 2023.

How bad has it got at Newcastle? Well, they are below Manchester United in the table now, which, given the doubt and uncertainty at Old Trafford, cannot be a good sign. They have lost eight of their last 12 games, going out of the Champions League and Carabao Cup. There were a smattering of boos after Tuesday’s 3-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest, a team who had previously won one away game all season. It is not quite a crisis yet but there is definitely potential crisis in the air.

The next three games feel key. In the league, Newcastle face Liverpool away and Manchester City at home, two fixtures that would be daunting even if they were in form. In between those matches, on the first Saturday of the new year, they travel to Sunderland in the FA Cup. The FA Cup would, anyway, present a dilemma for Newcastle; the league, and securing Champions League qualification again, is obviously the priority, but the Cup is the one opportunity they have left for a trophy this season, their only chance to end a drought that stretches back to 1969.