Chief Football Writer

The injury crisis and busy schedule hampering Newcastle's ambition has left the club and fanbase in a funk November 13, 2023 7:00 am

The energy is running out and the impact of last season's impressive Champions League qualification is becoming increasingly apparent. The danger is that Newcastle lose out both ways. They are bottom of their Champions League group and are favourites to stay there ahead of a trip to Paris that could eliminate them from the knockout stages.

Eddie Howe's team have played four games on the weekends after their Champions League fixtures and have dropped points in three of them. At Wolves, they were lucky to escape with a point. At West Ham the same, albeit with their opponents looking equally blunted by midweek commitments. At Bournemouth on Saturday, Newcastle lost 2-0 and Nick Pope was their best player.

It isn't just the fatigue in those who do play. The rapid increase in midweek matches and subsequent lack of recovery time has clearly played a role in Newcastle's injury crisis. They were without nine players at Bournemouth, Miguel Almiron went off injured and they have no fit strikers. It's a point we've raised before, but having all those full-backs but relying upon Callum Wilson's fitness over a 50-game season was simply too risky.

Related Article "We couldn't be where we needed to be for it," Eddie Howe said after the game. "In and out of possession we were unrecognisable. They're such honest players and they've given me so much that I'm absolutely clear I have to support them."

Howe is clearly right, if a little resigned. You can't simply magic energy back into your squad by repeatedly listening to Jake Humphrey's High Performance Podcast. The only answer is for Newcastle to cope or, as is more likely, fall into the Europa League or worse and focus on the Premier League.

More interesting is how this season is playing out amongst an element of the club's supporters. Changes to the club's ticketing system means that there are newer faces in the away end this year, and Newcastle have only won one of their six away league games.

At full-time on Saturday evening, Kieran Trippier argued with one supporter who was clearly giving the team grief. That simply wouldn't have happened last season because everybody was supporting everybody else. It's worth keeping an eye on any foolish entitlement growing.