Have we suddenly turned into Manchester City fans – Just missed out the winning trophies part? | OneFootball

A nice distraction recently, has been what I have been reading and hearing from Manchester City fans.

Quite incredible BUT absolutely hilarious.

I know it isn’t all Manchester City fans.

However, it clearly isn’t only a handful.

I am of course talking about those Manchester City fans who are now in meltdown because their team has now lost some football matches.

Pep Guardiola’s side losing their last three Premier League games, their last five matches in all competitions.

Whether it is watching and/or playing football, one thing is for sure. The more matches you win, the tougher it is to take when you lose.

To put it into perspective for Manchester City fans, before losing these last three Premier League matches, they had only lost three of their previous 47, four of their last 64. You are talking roughly about losing two league matches per season’s worth of matches, so losing three in a row must come as a shock to the system.

That though doesn’t excuse a lot of what I have recently heard from Manchester City fans.

They have been desperate to list so many players who are useless apparently, who should never start a match again.

Amongst them, so many players who have delivered so many trophies, way beyond what their (Man City fans) dreams could ever have been before the Sheikh rode into town and bought them their trophy trail.

Closer to home though, I am seeing a number of Newcastle United fans, acting in a not dissimilar way to those Manchester City fans. Just missing out the winning trophies part…

The meltdown from a section of Newcastle fans to pretty much any defeat, is off the scale.

‘Unacceptable’, a ‘disgrace’, ‘can’t be allowed to continue’ and so on.

I can’t get my head around what is going on in their heads.

Where has that level of expectation (entitlement?) come from?

The way these people talk, it is like Newcastle United have a team of expensive superstars in every position and every match is played against lower league opposition.

Eddie Howe has succeeded against the odds with Newcastle United, achieved way more than could have been reasonably expected, yet that is then used against him.

The three wins in a row against Chelsea, Arsenal and Forest are no longer a positive apparently. It is just losing to West Ham is a disgrace.

Yes, Newcastle had a favourites chance against West Ham but it wasn’t an overwhelming one. Very few Premier League matches are like that unless you are one of the real expensive elite.

West Ham have players like Bowen and Paqueta who could get a game for pretty much anybody. Monday night was never going to be a walkover.

Newcastle played well for 50+ minutes, by far the better team. West Ham not only survived but took their two chances. Then the rest of the match was a bit of a mess from an NUFC point of view.

However, it wasn’t ‘unacceptable’ or any other such nonsense. It was a football match where Newcastle didn’t take their chances and allowed the opposition a couple of clear chances that they took.

IMAGO/NurPhoto

The only reason why Newcastle were expected to win by most people, was due to the level Eddie Howe has had them playing at in recent games.

If anybody needs reminding…

Four of the ten starting outfield players against West Ham were inherited by Eddie Howe – Schar, Joelinton, Longstaff and Willock.

Four of the subs also inherited – Dubravka, Wilson, Almiron and Murphy.

Another five who cost a combined £45m since Eddie Howe and the new Newcastle United owners arrived – Kelly, Pope, Targett, Osula, Trippier

Which leaves us with two very promising young full-back in Livramento and Hall who Howe signed and who started last night, as well as Bruno, Gordon and Isak also in the starting eleven.

Plus Barnes and Tonali who came off the bench against the Hammers.

The idea that Newcastle United have a massive financial advantage ahead of all the clubs outside the usual (six) suspects is hugely misleading, in terms of spending in the transfer market, how much their squads cost to put together.

These last three seasons (2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25), Newcastle United have spent €401m (£335m) on new signings, whilst West Ham have spent €486m (£406m) in the same period of time (all figures via Transfermarkt).

The Eddie Howe influence, especially in improving inherited players and moulding them with largely inexpensive signings into a very decent team, it has been exceptional.

I think that because Eddie Howe has done so well, in terms of getting so many players to regularly look like they are far better than in reality they are, Newcastle fans then believe they are far better than is the reality, especially if put into a team at another club. Rafa Benitez was similar to an extent, he made what in many cases were second tier players in terms of their natural level, very low Premier League level at best, look far better in the team he moulded.

The likes of Man City, Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and others can buy expensive players for every position.

When Newcastle United committed to £63m for Alexander Isak we had every reason to expect he would deliver and he has. Other clubs have spent that kind of money (and more) all around the pitch and on their benches as well. Just look at Chelsea, they have a reserve side that cost half a billion pounds, their third team wouldn’t be cheap either!

With Eddie Howe as well, all the major money has been spent on young signings, 25 and under, indeed, the likes of Isak, Gordon, Hall, Botman and Livramento, all 22 or under when signing for United.

The short-term return from so many of these young signings has been exceptional, never mind what is still to come from them.

To think that another manager would come in and do better than Eddie Howe with the same group of players, is beyond belief.

It is no wonder so many Manchester City fans now feel so entitled after the success their club has had. It doesn’t justify that entitlement but it does make you understand where it comes from. A massive mistake if any number of Newcastle United fans are going down this route, thinking NUFC are now at a stage where you should automatically expect games to be won and no understanding given when things don’t go our way. We have a Newcastle team that in terms of finance, it should be expected that they have to get it pretty much right when it comes to their levels when playing, if they are to win on any kind of a regular basis.