Eddie Howe is clearly to blame | OneFootball

Eddie Howe cut a despondent figure on Sunday at the London Stadium.

The Newcastle United Head Coach watching on as his team lost 3-1.

Nobody will be claiming Newcastle deserved to win.

West Ham weren’t great but they were better than the visitors, busier than NUFC in the first half and then comfortable in defence after the break, as Newcastle United failed to threaten despite dominating territory and possession.

Eddie Howe returned the starting eleven to what was universally agreed to be full strength from the players available, after having made eight changes for the Spurs cup match.

The Head Coach then watched on as despite grabbing a fourth minute lead, Newcastle United just never got going.

Eddie Howe acting swiftly to try and change things from the bench, three subs on after the break, then the other two options used in the 65th and 77th minutes, all to no avail.

After a result and especially a performance like that, all Newcastle United fans absolutely have the right to ask questions in the aftermath. How and why this has happened and of course, what needs to be put right. What needs changed, what needs improved, whatever.

Quite incredibly though, some Newcastle United fans believe that the change that is needed is…Eddie Howe.

This kind of pathetic over reaction comes pretty much any time that United lose a match and/or play badly. Grifters amongst the NUFC youtubers are often at the heart of this, cynically doing so, going way over the top in order to get attention, to earn extra cash. They aren’t alone though, a small proportion of the rest of the Newcastle United fanbase also does the same, especially on social media. Going on like this latest Newcastle United result and performance is the worst they have ever experienced, indeed, the worst thing they have ever experienced in any aspect of their life.

Eddie Howe is absolutely to blame.

Eddie Howe is absolutely to blame for what he has delivered these past four years, completely transforming our lives as Newcastle United fans.

Eddie Howe creating hopes and indeed expectations, that are so very different to what we experienced for more than a decade and a half previously.

Eddie Howe is by a country mile responsible more than any other person for these vastly increased hopes and expectations, with most fans fully appreciating this. However, a minority behaving pretty shamefully. Ready to turn on our brilliant manager at the slightest opportunity.

Eddie Howe has had such a tough start to the season, with so many issues to deal with, obstacles in his way. So many injuries to key players, as well as a pre-season and transfer window totally compromised by you know who, then on top (part) of that, the key signings (strikers) not arriving until so late in the window.

What I increasingly see with those determined to have a go at Eddie Howe, is to totally dismiss any positives and only want to focus on any negatives. So a position in the top eight in the 36 team Champions League and through to the League Cup quarter-finals for a fourth season in a row…

The answer from the anti-Howe brigade is just look at the Premier League, that is what tells you everything etc etc.

Of course it isn’t ideal that Newcastle United have a Premier League record of won three, drawn three, lost four. However, that isn’t massively different to last season, when NUFC started off with a record of four wins, three draws and three defeats in their first ten PL matches. Eddie Howe had the answers then, getting United going and ending up qualifying for the Champions League in the top five of the Premier League, oh yes, and winning trophy.

Eddie Howe and Newcastle United also have a far tougher schedule this season as they attack four competitions and on top of their Premier League results, they have won four out of five in the Champions League and League Cup, the only exception last season’s La Liga winners and Champions League semi-finalists, Barcelona.

Concentrating only on the Premier League though…as his detractors are desperate to.

Handily, we are now at a point where we can judge Eddie Howe on four full years of Premier League results with Newcastle United. He was appointed on 8 November 2021 and with Brentford away not until Sunday 9 November 2025, Eddie Howe reaches his fourth anniversary on Saturday.

This is the complete Premier League record of Eddie Howe so far at Newcastle United, compared to rival clubs:

As you can see, Eddie Howe has turned Newcastle United into the fourth best team in the Premier League, the facts don’t lie.

To have done so after having taken over mid-season a Newcastle United squad certain to be relegated AND a club in total disarray, thanks to Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce, is absolutely astonishing from Eddie Howe.

Yes, question team selection, tactics, substitutions, team set-up and of course the players themselves.

However, don’t disrespect Eddie Howe.

As fans we can all have our own ideas on who should be in the team and so on, but that is quite another thing to going way over the top on criticism of Eddie Howe and even some of the lunatic fringe wanting rid of him.

Eddie Howe has earned our respect many times over, or at least he should have done.

He has repeatedly shown that he is the man with the answers and he gets his teams going on runs of wins, time and time again. United had won five of their last six games before Sunday’s car crash performance at West Ham.