A question of trust – Eddie Howe and Newcastle United | OneFootball

Eddie Howe questioned on his team selection, formation, tactics and substitutions.

We have been here before.

Not exactly Groundhog Day but certainly Groundhog Year at the very least.

This happening with Eddie Howe at least once a season, often more, whereby a certain number of Newcastle United supporters are questioning what the NUFC Head Coach is doing.

This 2025/26 season is no different, just over six weeks into it and questions are being asked.

Always impossible to quantify exactly how many are looking at things negatively when it comes to the decisions made by Eddie Howe. However, it is at the very least a noticeable minority, not just the lunatic fringe.

When your team isn’t winning football matches then it is only normal to be questioning why this is.

Indeed, nobody is more open and honest than Eddie Howe, when it comes to analysing results and performances. He is very introspective, looking at what he can do better, rather than always blaming other people, other factors.

For me it is a question of trust.

I base that on what I have witnessed in these near four years of Eddie Howe at Newcastle United.

It isn’t blind loyalty to believe that Eddie Howe knows what he is doing, that he will ensure United are competitive over the course of this 2025/26 season. We have seen time and time again that he is the man with the plan, the person who even in the most difficult of situations will over the course of the season, get the best out of his playing squad.

Arriving in a nightmare mid-season scenario at Newcastle United in November 2021, Eddie Howe managed only one win in his opening ten games as United accelerated further towards relegation. However, the underlying performances were improving for sure.

In the second half of that 2021/22 season, Eddie Howe transformed NUFC from relegation certainties into the third best Premier League form of the final 19 PL matches, only Liverpool and Man City picking up more points.

The first seven Premier League games of 2022/23, Newcastle only won once. However, that was then followed by a run of eleven games (all competitions) where Eddie Howe’s team won ten and drew one.

That same season, a run of only one win in eight Premier League matches then followed, only for then eight wins in nine PL matches that basically ensured United finished fourth and qualified for the Champions League.

The 2023/24 season was massively impacted by injury and Tonali’s suspension, yet once again we saw the doubts of some Newcastle United fans then answered by great runs of winning form even though such difficult circumstances.

Maybe last season though is the very best example.

Things just not quite clicking with the team, maybe more questions asked of Eddie Howe than ever before.

A run of 11 Premier League matches from September into December seeing only two wins, before then exploding into winning form with nine victories in a row in all competitions. That then extending to a run of 24 games where Eddie Howe won 19 of them.

As well as my deep trust in Eddie Howe to get things right, based on what he has done before. I also think that underlying these mixed early season results, is something that isn’t too far from once again developing into another wonderful run of results under the NUFC boss.

I don’t think it is asking too much, to trust Eddie Howe to get it right, for his planning to develop into ever better results. Especially as hopefully his playing options increase and he can then manage better this schedule of games every midweek as well as weekends.