Just over six months ago, it would have seemed unfathomable that Eddie Howe, the man who led us to our first major silverware in over 50 years, would be one of the bookies’ favourites to be the next manager sacked in the Premier League.
But such is the nature of the modern game that after a string of poor performances away from home, most recently the 3-1 loss away to Brentford, Howe and the team are facing some intense scrutiny from both fans and the media.
One man who has viscerally leapt to Howe’s defence is TalkSPORT’s Simon Jordan, who has shared his confidence that Howe can turn the team’s form around and discussed some of the issues we’re facing.
Speaking on [TalkSPORT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjtRII5vJJw) in the fallout of our loss to Brentford at the weekend, Simon Jordan has offered a theory on the total contrast between Newcastle’s approach at home
Ask any Newcastle United fan and they will tell you that the difference in quality, passion and drive to win at St James’ Park compared to watching the team play away is absolutely night and day.
There’s no ‘easy’ away game in the division, but relying on a home crowd to lift us, push standards or only turning up when there is a ‘big’ game feel on Tyneside shouldn’t be an excuse for any of our players to not play to their best ability.
Jordan wonders if Newcastle fans play a huge role in forcing the players to maintain high standards at St James’ Park. He believes those demands benefit us on home turf and drive us on to play a certain way as team, but allow some to go missing and get away with it on the road.
Jordan’s has discussed this theory below and backed Howe to be the main to quickly find the solution before our form dips even lower.
> _“The main issue is why are they setting up differently away from home and causing themselves problems? I would suspect that the crowd at St James’ Park play a massive part in demanding Newcastle set up differently and play in a certain way._
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> _“Eddie’s got to square the circle in his mind and the players’ minds. That way results have to be achieved. Flip it on its head. If you’re playing in front of an expectant crowd that are demanding you to be a certain way, is there as much pressure in that space as there is being away from home with a different set of pressures?_
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> _“Clearly the issue is not about the capability of this team to perform. It’s about their capability to perform away from home. They seem unable to turn up at away games._ _Why is that? And that’s the question that Eddie Howe will unlock.”_
Jordan also addressed the criticism that has been aimed at Howe and the team over our third straight away defeat in the Premier League.
Whilst acknowledging that our domestic form isn’t where it perhaps should be, Jordan believes that Howe currently has enough credit in the bank, alongside other uncontrollable factors, that should allow him some reprieve at this time.
> _“At the beginning of the season, they had three near-nil draws against Villa, against Bournemouth, and against Leeds. I hear that, but let’s not turn it into a crisis because they’ve just won the EFL game against Spurs, they’re in the quarter-finals of the EFL League Cup, the one they’re defending! They’re going well in the Champions League.”_
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> _“They’ve got to get themselves together in the Premier League and I’m pretty sure that they will. They’ve got a new centre-forward in (Woltemade), Isak’s gone, so they’re setting up a different way now._
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> _“The two wingers (Gordon and Elanga) have got to start contributing a little bit more. Lo and behold, Harvey Barnes comes into the team and scores a great goal on the weekend.”_
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> _“But the moment they hit adversity away from home, or they are pegged back, they struggle. Eddie is critical (in his press conferences) but he’s no disparaging, so I think he’ll see his way through this.”_