What’s not to like? | OneFootball

Three games unbeaten, through to the next round of the League Cup and facing a tie to lower league opposition, and welcoming back several pivotal members of our Newcastle United squad from a vastly reduced treatment room and not forgetting our Italian Rolls Royce from suspension.

What’s not to like?

Yes, I get that we are not free flowing at present, but there are several mitigating reasons for that.

Pre-season is exhausting at the best of times, but flying all over the world in different time zones, on top of some players playing in international tournaments, surely has to take its toll?

Many will scoff and say, well, they get paid eye watering salaries, and are treated like royalty, and yes, I get that.

However…

In addition, this transfer window has unsettled the Newcastle United squad with speculation and insecurities creeping in, as the media and their lackeys collude to try and undermine our esprit de corps, with wild and lazy speculation on key players and exerting unnecessary attention on Eddie Howe in regards to the England manager position.

All deliberate in my opinion, and as I wrote recently, the Premier League Septic Six, (and the rest of the world it seems), simply do not want us to break up that self-righteous cabal.

I have already dealt with the media, of which I treat with disdain with only very few exceptions, but our own support may wish to consider the points I have made on our squad having a gruelling few weeks before a competitive ball was kicked?

Bringing back senior players and accommodating their easing back into the frantic and furious pace of the Premier League is no walk in the park.

Sandro Tonali played an hour or so at Forest and purred like the Rolls Royce we all know he is, but training fitness and match fitness are two completely different levels, and even an athlete like Sandro can attest to this as he ran out of steam, due to lack of the latter.

Ensuring there is no relapse with injuries and exposing returning players takes time, coupled with the huge pressure on Eddie Howe and his team to re-integrate players into an ever evolving team, with different formations, different formulas and different opposition each game would spin anyone’s head!

To compound all of that further, dealing with transfers, players’ personal lives, and finding the best team and system(s) is equally as exhausting.

For us sat in the stands or the pub or in front of the TV , shouting at our matches, it can easily be forgotten how simplistic it can appear to us when a player hits a stray pass, or makes a mistake.

However, here’s the thing; it isn’t deliberate, they’re trying their best and they desperately crave success as much for themselves as they do for our unparallelled support.

Come Saturday early morning and we have the relief of at least one element of the conundrum removed, (i.e. the transfer window), then Eddie Howe and his management team can knuckle down and focus on honing the best eleven to eke out results against fluid opposition(s), and develop the winning mentality with the full raucous support behind him and his leadership.

In the meantime, he might be singing to himself, along with many other players and back room staff, “I’m only human, of flesh and blood I’m made.”

Difference is, we all bleed Black and White, and we need to trust in Eddie and his vision, get behind everyone connected with our Magpie family.