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The Newcastle manager isn't typically prone to dramatics or sweeping public statements. So by his standards, his press conference following the weekend's loss to West Ham qualifies as a furious tirade. His side took an early lead but West Ham took the lead by the interval, as well as hitting the post and seeing a spot-kick overturned by VAR, leading Howe to execute a triple change at the break.

“That was the frustrating thing about the first half,” Howe said. “Virtually any player could have been substituted and I believe this indicated of where we were in that moment in the game and it's extremely uncommon for me to have that impression. In fact, I cannot recall having done so during my tenure as head coach of Newcastle, therefore I believed the squad needed some shaking up at half-time. This explains why I did what I did.”

Anthony Gordon, Nick Woltemade and Emil Krafth all came off at the interval and Newcastle managed to steady somewhat in the second half, but never appearing like they could fight back into the contest against an opponent that had secured just a single victory of their last nine fixtures. Given the congestion the middle of the standings currently is, with a mere three-point gap separating third from 11th, and nine points between second and 17th, a sequence of twelve points from 10 games has not left the Magpies stranded but, similarly, they must not finish the season in thirteenth place.

The Issue of Perception

The challenge partially is one of perception. With the Saudi PIF, the club possess the richest backers in the globe. The assumption when the PIF bought a majority stake of the club in recent years was that it would bring a game-changing impact, similar to the former Chelsea owner had at Chelsea or Sheikh Mansour had at Manchester City. The difference is that both of those owners took over prior to the advent of FFP rules (while the ongoing charges against City relate to whether they breached those guidelines after they were in place).

Financial restrictions limit the capacity of owners, no matter how wealthy, to spend money on their squads and therefore likely might have slowed every Saudi attempt to raise Newcastle to the level of City. But it wasn't necessary for Newcastle’s spending to have been quite as cautious as it has been; they could have spent more and remained within the limit – or simply taken a fairly minor Uefa penalty since their major issue is primarily with the European than the domestic rules.

Stadium Investment and PSR Regulations

Besides which, infrastructure spending is excluded from PSR calculations; the simplest way to raise income to create additional PSR headroom would be to extend or redevelop the stadium. Given the location of St James’ Park, with protected structures on two sides, practically that likely implies building an completely new stadium. There was talk in March of potentially undertaking the nearby relocation to a local park – resistance from community organizations might have been surmounted with a commitment to create a new park on the current stadium site – but there has been no movement on that proposal. There has occurred substantial retrenchment from the PIF on a variety of initiatives as it shifts focus on domestic affairs; the attitude to the football club appears completely in alignment with that change of approach.

The Alexander Isak Situation

The star striker episode was born of that conflict. A bolder leadership could have framed his transfer as necessary to release capital for further spending; rather there was a vain effort to retain him. This resulted in Newcastle started the campaign amid a feeling of disappointment even with the signings of several new players. The opening was indifferent: one win in their initial six fixtures.

But it seemed a corner was reached. They secured five in six before the weekend, a streak that included convincing wins of a Belgian side and a Portuguese club in the Champions League. That’s why the performance against the Hammers was such a shock. The problem maybe is that the team's approach is extremely intense, high-energy; a minor decrease in energy can have significant effects. Perhaps the strain of Premier League, Champions League and cup matches, five fixtures in a fortnight, had taken its toll. Woltemade featured in each of those games and appeared particularly weary.

The Nature of Modern Soccer

That’s the reality of modern football. Coaches must be ready to rotate. The manager has been unfortunate that Wissa’s injury has meant he is lacking forward choices but, no matter how reasonable the explanations, Sunday’s showing was inexcusable –especially after taking the lead at a ground primed to criticize its home team.

The Newcastle boss will wish it was merely a temporary setback, an off-day when all players is below par simultaneously, but if the Magpies are to secure the Champions League next season, not to mention one day launch an genuine title challenge, they must not be as unreliable as this.