Newcastle United transfers: Eddie Howe has assessed his side’s struggles this season following a £250million summer transfer spend.
Eddie Howe has admitted he is still striving to find a ‘clear identity’ for his Newcastle United team amid a period of transition for the club.
Newcastle are still fighting on three fronts but that could be reduced to two on Saturday unless they are able to progress in the FA Cup against Aston Villa (5:45pm kick-off).
The Magpies finished fifth in the Premier League last season but currently sit 10th in the table with 12 games left to play and have largely struggled for consistency.
It’s the result of a chaotic summer transfer window, which saw six senior players join the club while top scorer Alexander Isak left to join Liverpool for a Premier League record £130million fee.
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Eddie Howe calls for patience amid ‘different’ season for Newcastle United
And Howe admitted that the lack of ‘patience’ in modern football makes the current transition particularly difficult to manage.
Before giving a lengthy response, Howe made his feelings clear by pausing and letting out an audible sigh during his press conference.
“I think the word patience is an understanding that they're rarely sort of accepted in football management or when you're talking about your team because people want sort of clarity on where you are,” he explained.
"They want to know whether you're good or bad and in the middle isn't accepted."
The Magpies boss conceded that he always expected this season to be ‘different’ due to the summer which saw Yoane Wissa, Nick Woltemade, Jacob Ramsey, Malick Thiaw, Anthony Elanga and Aaron Ramsdale join the club for a record transfer spend of around £250million.
Aside from the initial flurry of business following the PIF-led takeover, Newcastle had largely relied on a settled core of players. But the summer transfer business, paired with several injury issues has broken that trend this season.
“We were well aware going into this season it was going to be different for us because of everything that happened in the summer, we hadn't recruited in so many windows and then suddenly we recruit six players," Howe said. "That's very, very different to how we had been working historically, apart from our first window."
Limited training, limited identity for NUFC
With the exception of Elanga, Newcastle’s summer signings didn’t have a pre-season with the club and the addition of Champions League football this season has led to limited training time for Howe and his players.
“We'd been so used to working with the same group of players, working one way, but a lot of those players or some of those players had left and then we go into a new season with no pre-season, no training time with them,” he added.
“So I think that's very difficult and it has ended up being inconsistent and a little bit up and down. Don't get me wrong. I think we could have done better and that there are certainly things that we can improve.”
Despite the hurdles, Howe remains adamant that the long-term benefits of this transition will eventually outweigh the current frustrations.
“The biggest thing is find a clear identity and a clear way of playing and we can see sort of what the future looks like with this team," he continued. "If it's positive, that could be a great thing. So I think we have a duty to try and do that.
“All we ask from everybody on the outside is that there is some understanding, but we understand that we're under pressure as well and we have to try and win while doing it.”
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