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The Newcastle manager is not given to dramatics or grand public pronouncements. So by his usual demeanor, his media briefing after the weekend's 3-1 defeat qualifies as a furious outburst. Newcastle scored first but West Ham were ahead by the interval, while also hitting the post and having a penalty revoked by VAR, prompting Howe to make a three substitutions at the break.

“The opening period was particularly irritating,” Howe said. “I almost could have taken anyone off and I believe that was a reflection of where we were in that moment in the game and it’s very, very rare for me to feel that way. Actually, I cannot recall I have during my tenure as manager of Newcastle, so I felt the team needed a significant change at half-time. This explains why I made those decisions.”

Three key players were substituted at the interval and Newcastle did stabilise somewhat in the latter period, but never really looking like they might fight back into the contest against an opponent that had secured just a single victory of their last nine league matches. Considering how packed the middle of the table currently is, with a mere three-point gap separating the top spots from mid-table, and nine points between second and 17th, a sequence of twelve points from ten matches has not left the Magpies adrift but, similarly, they must not end the campaign in 13th.

The Problem of Perception

The challenge to an extent is one of perception. In the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the club have the richest backers in the globe. The expectation when the PIF bought a majority stake of the club in recent years was that it would bring a transformative effect, as Roman Abramovich achieved at Stamford Bridge or the City Group did at the Etihad. The distinction is that those two investors took over prior to the advent of financial fair play regulations (and the ongoing charges against City relate to if they breached those guidelines once they were implemented).

Profit and sustainability regulations limit the capacity of owners, no matter how wealthy, to spend money on their squads and so in that sense probably might have slowed every Middle Eastern effort to raise Newcastle to the level of Manchester City. But it wasn't necessary for the club's spending to have been quite as cautious as it has; they could have spent more and stayed inside the threshold – or just accepted a relatively meagre European penalty since their major issue is primarily with the European than the domestic regulation.

Stadium Investment and Financial Regulations

Additionally, stadium development is excluded from PSR calculations; the simplest method to increase revenue to create more financial headroom would be to extend or renovate the stadium. Given the location of the home ground, with listed buildings on multiple sides, practically that likely means building an entirely new stadium. There was talk in March of possibly making the short move to a local park – opposition from community organizations could surely have been overcome with a commitment to create a new park on the current stadium site – but there has not been no movement on that proposal. There has been substantial cutbacks from the PIF on a range of projects as it shifts focus on local investments; the attitude to the football club appears completely in keeping with that strategic shift.

The Alexander Isak Saga

The star striker saga was born of that conflict. A more confident management might have portrayed his transfer as necessary to free up capital for additional investment; instead there was a unsuccessful attempt to retain him. That meant Newcastle began the season amid a feeling of disappointment even with the acquisitions of several new players. The opening was indifferent: a single victory in their initial six fixtures.

But it appeared a turning point had been turned. They secured five victories in six matches before Sunday, a streak that included demolitions of Union Saint-Gilloise and a Portuguese club in the Champions League. This explains the performance against West Ham was so surprising. The issue perhaps is that the team's style is very aggressive, high-energy; a slight drop-off in intensity can have profound effects. Maybe the strain of domestic, European and Carabao Cup matches, five games in 15 days, had taken its toll. Woltemade featured in all five matches and looked especially weary.

Reality of Contemporary Soccer

This is the reality of today's football. Coaches must be ready to rotate. Howe has been unfortunate that Wissa’s injury has meant he is lacking forward choices but, no matter how reasonable the explanations, Sunday’s performance was inexcusable –particularly after scoring first at a stadium ready to criticize its home team.

The Newcastle boss will hope it was merely a temporary setback, one of those days when all players is off-colour simultaneously, but if Newcastle are to qualify for the European competition in the future, not to mention one day launch an actual championship bid, they must not be as inconsistent as this.