Why we should now expect the unexpected from our glorious leader

Eddie Howe is a man I would love to meet, though not for a game of poker. As any Newcastle United fan with a modicum of intelligence knows, His Royal Howeness plays his cards close to his chest.

If you try to name his starting line-up in advance, your best guess will almost certainly be wrong.

One of the tasks I suspect Howe doesn’t relish is the continual stream of press conferences, though the diplomat in him ensures there are no false steps, no disrespecting rival managers or teams, no attempts to influence match officials. Often there is almost nothing worth reporting, if you consider unstinting courtesy to be dull.

He is quite prepared to be economical with the truth when laying a false trail might give his club an advantage. If he refers to a minor setback in training, the player in question could be out for weeks, months.

Conversely, he sometimes gives no indication that a long-absent player is fighting fit and raring to go. Our chief coach searches tirelessly for ways to improve United’s chances of success.

On Saturday night his guard slipped, I suspect. Was he a little euphoric after a great performance by his men had rightly delivered three much-needed points?

He was asked how he had prepared for the challenge of Manchester City, opponents he had failed to beat even once in 18 Premier League attempts.

“I’ve got lists and lists of things that haven’t worked against them,” he said in a BBC interview. “Telling you what does is [on] a very small piece of paper, but you just try and learn from experience and just tweak something the next time. That’s what we did.”

So far, so typically Howe. A bit of self-deprecating humour, a quick glimpse of his modus operandi.

This is a chief coach whose team had underperformed, especially on the road, for months. After goalless draws at Aston Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth, consecutive defeats at Brighton, West Ham and Brentford had left us floundering just above the relegation zone.

One of Howe’s greatest qualities is his loyalty but it was being used as a weapon to beat him. Why was he so inflexible, had he no other way of setting up the team, had he taken United as far as he could?

They say pressure is for tyres but he must have felt the weight of expectation on his shoulders after leads were surrendered against the Hammers and the Bees just before the international break. We lacked the energy and desire that normally define a Howe team.

The day we lost 3-1 at the Gtech, Man City were thumping Liverpool 3-0 at the Etihad. After 11 Premier League games, we trailed Saturday’s opponents by 10 points.

They had not lost to us in the league since 2019. The omens were, well, ominous, even though our home record had been pretty damned good during Howe’s four years in charge.

Before kick-off, I couldn’t have been alone in thinking: “I’ll take a point today.”

That’s not the way our glorious leader approaches a challenge, thank goodness. He analyses, he considers, he decides.

“I don’t agree with ripping things up,” Howe said, post-match, “unless you’re in absolute panic mode, which we’re not, and I don’t believe in that style of leadership anyway.

“I think I have a very good idea on who our stronger players are and I want to try and give them every opportunity to showcase that by helping them and developing them.”

That is the way to build team spirit, the way to get young multimillionaires to run through metaphorical brick walls, to produce extraordinary performances. That’s what we saw against Man City.

There is, of course, at least one other side to this story. When every member of the squad is fit and available, quite a few will be disappointed. A tight-knit group can be difficult to disrupt, which is a strength and a weakness.

Those playing every week, often twice a week, will be happy for only as long as the wins keep coming. Consecutive away defeats will certainly not improve their mood.

Imagine being one of those on the fringes, waiting for a chance to make an impact, desperate to justify your existence. How do you motivate Elanga, Osula, Ramsdale, Ramsey and the rest, week in, week out? They have to be ready, mentally and physically, even though they cannot be match fit.

When opportunity knocks, any professional footballer worth his salt must seize the moment.

“Don’t change a winning team” is an oft-quoted aphorism. Does the opposite apply? Should a losing team be changed?
We are about to find out, because away from the Cathedral on the Hill we are exactly that: a losing team.

Tomorrow the challenge is in the Stade Velodrome. On Saturday it is in the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Two more defeats would stop us in our tracks.

Eddie Howe is more determined than ever to see his team make an impact on the road.

This is what he said when asked to explain the stark contrast between home and away form and results.

“As much as I’d like to say the crowd shouldn’t make the difference to the players on the pitch, it changes everything.

“We have to figure out a way to transfer some positive energy into our performances away when we don’t have the crowd.

“That’s going to be for us to fix, whether that’s system-related, personnel-related. Whatever it is, we need to work hard to figure it out.”

Starting tomorrow, we will discover what Eddie Howe has up his sleeve. There will be no panic, though there might be one or two surprise cards.