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Eddie Howe is not prone to dramatics or sweeping media pronouncements. So by his standards, his press conference after Sunday’s loss to West Ham counts as a angry tirade. Newcastle scored first but West Ham took the lead by half-time, as well as hitting the post and having a penalty overturned by VAR, prompting Howe to execute 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 during the match and it’s very, very rare for me to have that impression. Actually, I cannot recall having done so during my tenure as head coach of Newcastle, therefore I believed the team needed a significant change at the break. This explains why I made what I did.”

Anthony Gordon, Nick Woltemade and Emil Krafth all came off at half-time and Newcastle managed to steady to an extent in the latter period, but never appearing like they might get back into the game against a side that had secured just a single victory of their previous nine league matches. Considering how packed the centre of the table is, with a mere three-point gap dividing third from 11th, and nine points between the upper and lower ranks, a run of twelve points from ten matches has not placed Newcastle stranded but, similarly, they cannot end the campaign in thirteenth place.

The Issue of Expectations

The challenge to an extent is one of public view. With the Saudi PIF, the club have the wealthiest backers in the globe. The expectation at the time the Saudi fund bought 80% of the club in recent years was that it would have a game-changing impact, similar to the former Chelsea owner had at Chelsea or the City Group had at Manchester City. The difference is that those two investors took over prior to the advent of FFP regulations (and the current allegations against Manchester City relate to if they violated those guidelines once they were implemented).

Financial restrictions restrict the capacity of proprietors, however rich, to spend money on their squads and therefore likely might have slowed any Middle Eastern attempt to raise the team to the level of Manchester City. But there is no need for the club's spending to have been so restrained as it has been; they could have spent more and remained within the threshold – or simply taken a relatively meagre Uefa penalty since their big problem is more with the European than the Premier League rules.

Infrastructure Spending and PSR Rules

Additionally, stadium development is excluded from Profit and Sustainability calculations; the simplest method to increase revenue to generate additional financial flexibility would be to extend or renovate the stadium. Given the site of the home ground, with listed buildings on two sides, in reality that likely implies constructing an entirely new venue. Rumors circulated in March of potentially undertaking the nearby relocation to a local park – opposition from community organizations could surely have been surmounted with a promise to build a new park on the existing stadium site – but there has not been any progress on that plan. There has been substantial cutbacks from the Saudi fund on a range of initiatives as it shifts focus on local investments; the approach to the football club appears completely in keeping with that change of approach.

Player Sales Saga

The Alexander Isak episode was born of that conflict. A more confident management might have framed his sale as essential to release funds for further spending; instead there was a unsuccessful attempt to keep him. That meant Newcastle started the campaign amidst a sense of disappointment despite the acquisitions of Woltemade, Yoane Wissa, Jacob Ramsey, Malick Thiaw and Anthony Elanga. The start was mixed: a single victory in their initial six fixtures.

Yet it seemed a turning point had been turned. They secured five victories in six matches before Sunday, a run that featured demolitions of Union Saint-Gilloise and Benfica in the Champions League. That’s why the performance against West Ham was such a shock. The issue maybe is that the team's style is extremely intense, high-energy; a minor decrease in energy can have significant effects. Perhaps the pressure of Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup competition, five fixtures in 15 days, had got to them. Woltemade started all five games and appeared particularly fatigued.

The Nature of Modern Soccer

This is the nature of today's football. Coaches have to be ready to make changes. The manager has been unfortunate that Wissa’s fitness issue has meant he is lacking attacking options but, regardless of how valid the reasons, the weekend's showing was unacceptable –especially following taking the lead at a ground ready to criticize its own side.

The Newcastle boss will wish it was just a blip, one of those days when everybody is below par simultaneously, but if Newcastle are to secure the European competition in the future, let alone one day launch an actual championship bid, they cannot be as inconsistent as they have been.