It’s not the end of the world | OneFootball

I am worried about these Newcastle United fans.

What has happened?

Losing all sense of proportion.

Newcastle United fans determined to see it as the end of the world when the team lose any match and/or play under par.

Some of the stuff I have read since Saturday’s match at Selhurst Park, I keep shaking my head.

Luckily, I have plenty friends and family who are also Newcastle United fans, so I am reassured that it’s not just me who finds this level of negativity so bizarre.

I worry though about other NUFC supporters who don’t have those sounding boards of reassurance, where when Eddie Howe and his team haven’t produced the right result and/or performance, these supporters only have what they see online to rely on, for other perspectives on the most recent match(es). Social media, YouTube and comments sections and so on, some of the stuff I have seen and read is just beyond belief.

For whatever reason(s), Newcastle United usually struggle at Selhurst Park. Not sure why, it always feels a tight ground where you don’t get much space, Palace seem to get a bigger advantage when playing at home than many other teams do at their stadiums. It is not just against NUFC either, many of the top teams also seem to struggle there, more than they reasonably should.

I just checked and Newcastle have only won once at Selhurst Park in the last decade, that a Brucey fluke when NUFC scored twice in the last two minutes in 2020.

Palace found themselves in the bottom three but I don’t think any chance they were going down, they had been failing to pick up (enough) points as fine margins went against them and failing themselves at key moments at both ends of the pitch. At the end of last season they finished off with six wins and a draw in their last seven PL games, Palace won away at Liverpool, scored 21 goals in those seven matches, smashing Man U 4-0 and Villa 5-0.

This season, Palace have won against Spurs, drawn against Man U, (away at) Chelsea, away at Villa, plus won 2-1 away at Villa in the cup, then drawing with Newcastle. Last night’s victory at Ipswich has now taken Palace out of the relegation zone.

I think these matches are also especially dangerous for total overreaction, when not televised. Yes, plenty of us still watched online/abroad, as well as the Newcastle fans who were at the match, but this is only a fraction of how many would have seen the game if on Sky Sports.

It can then be a toxic combination, vast majority of Newcastle United fans not seeing the whole game and then even more relying on what they read online.

As Eddie Howe said, a very strange game. Newcastle matched Palace all over the pitch, apart from when we got near their box. The Isak injury very early on, obviously didn’t help, and things just didn’t click when getting near their goal.

For those who didn’t watch the game, yes Palace had some really good chances but it was in no way a siege. Palace had only three efforts on target apart from their goal, Nick Pope making a few top saves. Plus we had some great challenges in and around the box, both Burn and Schar played well. Indeed, after Palace’s initial positive reaction after conceding, the final 25 minutes or so, Newcastle had looked increasingly comfortable until that punch to the gut with a minute of added time to go.

Palace were in a false league position, they were playing at home, they have some really good players, including England internationals Eze and Guehi. This is their 12th Premier League season in a row and they are a solid mid-table team most seasons.

Yet a 1-1 draw has sparked this totally unjustified, in my opinion, post-mortem, where some Newcastle United fans are picking over the NUFC corpse and looking at our manager and team as a fatality.

No doubt some of those who are super critical will say ‘but look at how we lost to West Ham in the previous match’

To which I would say ‘ but look at how we won against Chelsea, Arsenal and Forest in the previous matches.’

Inconsistency is rife in the Premier League this season, Newcastle United are not alone!

Only Liverpool have proved the exception, so far, but even they lost 1-0 at home to Forest, whilst in their most recent away game the scousers were losing 2-1 at rock bottom Southampton, before the Saints gifted them a way back in and eventually a 3-2 away win.

As other rational people have pointed out, as well as injuries and suspensions to deal with this season, Eddie Howe was also forced to sell his arguably two most promising young players AND wasn’t able to add any new first team starts, just two or three squad players. No other Premier League club/manager faced such a scenario as this in the summer.

It doesn’t make it impossible for Newcastle United to have a good season BUT it does mean that with our small squad and even smaller group of players who are really good enough to be regular starters, it is a case of we need everything clicking together, if the team is to really perform.

We saw that happen against Chelsea, Arsenal and Forest.

We just need to find a way to bounce back after a couple of games where things didn’t quite click, in various/different ways.