“You can’t shrink at the size of the game, and I don’t think we will,” said Eddie Howe before a trip to the Nou Camp which saw Newcastle concede seven goals, the last five of which were without reply from an increasingly shell-shocked team.
But that was away at Barcelona; for Newcastle to “shrink at the size of the game” at home to a Sunderland side below them in the table who were missing a handful of key players as a newly-promoted club is lamentable.
They took the lead through an opposition mistake. They did not capitalise on that advantage. They let Sunderland grow into the game. They panicked at another corner. They faded into the background with an evaporating midfield as Brian Brobbey staged a late raid with no resistance.
The bare minimum Newcastle once guaranteed under Howe, especially on occasions such as these, was effort, application and grit. It is a crude measure but they completed fewer tackles (13 to 17) and accrued far fewer bookings (one to six) than Sunderland, who committed more than twice as many fouls (19 to eight) at St James’ Park.
That sums up Alan Shearer’s assessment of his former side as ‘pathetic, weak, lazy and limp’, as does 22 points lost from winning positions over the course of this regrettable season.
It feels closer to the end than ever for Howe, whose good will and credit might not be able to sustain him through the most damaging week imaginable come the summer, with nothing else to play for until then in a miserable home straight to the campaign; the booed lap of appreciation he led after the match hints at how well that might be received.
“You never want to go through that,” Howe said of a reaction he “understood”.
“We were looking at those fixtures as two games that we had to win, so to not achieve that is a massive disappointment,” he added. “We were looking forward to try and do our supporters justice and showcase us in a great way and we failed.”
Howe admirably pledged to “front it up and absorb the blame”, to “protect my players to the last breath” and not “deflect” any of the censure towards them.
His ability to say the right things and shoulder all responsibility when it ought to be apportioned equally throughout the squad too is unshakeable. It is unfortunate that while Howe remains the perfect Newcastle manager, he is no longer anything close to their best option as a coach. The weight of the job has consumed him.
