Hands up how many of you would have earmarked Bournemouth away as a crucial match for Newcastle when the fixtures were announced in mid-June!
I, for one, was hoping to be describing matches against the likes of Tottenham or Liverpool as the important games that would make a difference to our position in the table. But, as is too often with Newcastle United of late, we are looking at the lower half of the table.
Excuses are already flying around from various disgruntled supporters; whether it be “McClaren was the wrong choice,” “our summer signings are not settling” or, the most common one, “our squad is depleted by injuries.”
But, it is not all doom and gloom. Throughout the many seasons we have struggled, the football we have played has been dire. We have failed to create, looked lethargic and appeared not to care. That is where this season is different. In the last two fixtures, we have had 36 shots, played some pleasing football and have seen players putting in a decent shift.
Now, as the old saying goes, if you want to win a football match, you have to score and that is proving a sticking point right now. Against Norwich, everything we tried came off. If those six goals were spread out amongst the last two games, it definitely would have been a different story.
Newcastle, however, don’t like to give their supporters an easy ride. The key thing is that we are creating chances and don’t look like a side devoid of ideas or confidence.
In Aleksandar Mitrović and Ayoze Pérez, Newcastle have a pairing that seem to know each other’s game, enjoy playing with each other and that, importantly, seem to care about the club. Pérez’s energy is infectious; it lifts his teammates and makes the difference in tight games.
Mitrović is a player that wears his heart on his sleeve, terrorises defenders and, given the right supply, will easily get into double figures this season, for goals and hopefully not cards. So, there is definitely light at the end of this grim tunnel.
Bournemouth like to play quite an open and expansive style of football, especially at home, and this could play to Newcastle’s strengths.
We are not a team that are good at breaking down an opposition that put 11 men behind the ball. This is evident from the results against Norwich and Sunderland. Whilst Sunderland sat back and soaked up our pressure, Norwich came onto us and left themselves exposed.
Supporter’s opinions are definitely divided at the moment. We don’t know whether to be encouraged by the progress or worried by the future. The picture will most certainly become clearer come after this weekend.
On Saturday, we need big performances again from the likes of Moussa Sissoko and Georginio Wijnaldum and, of course, a little bit of luck wouldn’t hurt at all. The right result to go with the right performance will bring us out of the relegation zone for the first time since the end of August. I don’t want to think about what it means if we are on the end of the wrong result.
