Mancunian misery has become ingrained, but Saturday was a day that was supposed to be different. Manchester City, reeling from their late midweek collapse at the hands of Real Madrid and still trying to extricate themselves from the worst run of form of the Pep Guardiola era, were meant to be there for the taking. Newcastle, buoyed by away wins over Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest already this season, were ready to banish another hoodoo.
Or so we all thought. The reality turned out to be depressingly familiar, with Newcastle three goals down by the 33rd minute as they delivered their worst 45-minute performance of the season, indeed one of their worst one-half displays in the whole of their time under Eddie Howe.
So, what can we learn from the Magpies’ failure to live up to their pre-match billing? Firstly, that it helps if you can spend £180m in the January transfer window, almost as much as the whole of the rest of the Premier League combined. Omar Marmoush, a £59m signing from Eintracht Frankfurt, scored a hat-trick as he announced his arrival into the English game with a dazzling first-half attacking display. Nico Gonzalez, a £50m capture from Porto, successfully plugged the gap left by the injured Rodri, while Abdukodir Khusanov, signed from Lens for £33.5m, shored up City’s back four alongside fellow centre-half John Stones.
Newcastle, of course, did not spend a penny in January, failing to strengthen their first team for the third transfer window in a row. Spending money is not the only way to solve a problem, but eventually, it helps. Amid a backdrop of increased uncertainty over how the Premier League will enforce its PSR regulations in the wake of Friday’s ruling over Associated Party Transactions, which saw an independent panel rule in favour of Manchester City rather than the league’s legal team, it feels imperative that Newcastle finally find a way of investing significant money into their playing squad this summer.
For now, though, Howe needs to find a way of avoiding performances such as Saturday’s, which was effectively a no-show from a side that continues to struggle for consistency despite the nine-game winning run either side of Christmas that sent them shooting up the table.
Since their winning sequence came to an end, Newcastle have lost three of four league games, with their only victory in that spell coming against a Southampton side that are the worst team in the top-flight.
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All season, Howe has been talking about the evolution of his side, claiming that an increase in the ability to control matches has resulted in a shift away from the all-action playing style that characterised the success of two seasons ago, when Champions League qualification was achieved.
Has there really been that much change though? This still feels like a Newcastle side that needs to be playing right on the edge, embracing a sense of chaos, to succeed. Press aggressively, fly into tackles, master the ‘dark arts’, knock the opposition out of their stride. It worked in both legs of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal, when, not for the first time, Mikel Arteta’s side were completely flustered by Newcastle’s intensity.
Saturday could hardly have been more different. Passive and meek from the off, Newcastle’s players stood off their opponents, effectively inviting Manchester City’s creative talents to play their preferred game. Howe’s side barely made a tackle in the first half, with their laissez-faire approach playing into the opposition’s hands. Were the visitors complacent? Too focused on Wembley? Trying to play a game that simply didn’t suit them? Either way, the result was annihilation.
“It was painful to watch from the sideline,” admitted Howe. “We were a yard off where we needed to be, and we seemed to be reactive. We allowed their good technical players too much space.
“They do have very good technical players. I know a lot has been made of their run, but for me, with the ball, they’re still the best team in the Premier League.
“We’ve had some difficult games here, but we just weren’t competitive enough. We weren’t in their face enough, and when you come up 50-50 against any direct opponent, we were losing too many of those battles. Ultimately, too many of those things cost you matches.”
Individual errors didn’t help either, with Kieran Trippier allowing Ederson’s long clearance to sail over his head in the 19th minute, enabling Marmoush to loft his first goal over a stranded Martin Dubravka.
Trippier was then turned far too easily for Marmoush’s second, before Lewis Hall got in on the act, standing and watching as Savinho skipped past him to set up the Egyptian’s hat-trick strike.
Trippier and Joe Willock were hauled off at the interval – both will be fortunate to remain in the team to face Nottingham Forest on Sunday – and it says much that in displaying even a modicum of energy and fight, Lewis Miley achieved more in five minutes after leaving the bench at half-time than most of his team-mates had mustered in the whole of the first half.
City still managed to score a fourth goal with six minutes remaining though, with James McAtee scoring from close range after Erling Haaland flicked on a corner at the front post.
