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Opinion

A little bit of Deja Vu with this recent Newcastle United form

1 year ago
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This Newcastle United season kicked off exactly seven months ago today.

It has been a pretty eventful seven months.

The Newcastle United 2022/23 Premier League season having a planned interruption of around six weeks to accommodate a World Cup mid-season, whilst there was also an unplanned two weeks break due to the passing of The Queen.

For Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United squad, there have been 32 competitive football matches played, from 6 August 2022 onwards.

That 2022/23 Newcastle United record currently showing:

Played 32 Won 16 Drawn 11 Lost 5 Goals For Goals 44 Against 23

For Newcastle United to have won 50% of their games so far and to avoid defeat in over 84% of them, is pretty good going from where I am seeing things from.

To have only lost to Man City, Man U and Liverpool (twice), plus a second string side losing at Sheff Wed, is commendable and a tribute to Eddie Howe and his squad’s consistency.

The trouble though for some Newcastle United fans though, appears to be that simply the results have come in the wrong order. Some people unable to accept / comprehend that you have to see the whole picture, the whole set of results, plus you have to accept that at certain times the luck goes your way, at others it simply deserts you.

Let me explain.

At the moment I am getting Deja Vu, whilst for other Newcastle United fans it seems to be short-term memory loss

These have been the most recent Premier League results for Newcastle United:

Palace 0 Newcastle 0

Newcastle 1 West Ham 1

Bournemouth 1 Newcastle 1

Newcastle 0 Liverpool 2

Man City 2 Newcastle 0

Upcoming games before the March 2023 international break are:

Sunday 12 March – Newcastle v Wolves (4.30pm)

Friday 17 March – Forest v Newcastle (8pm)

As I say, a bit of Deja Vu for me…

Cast your mind back to before 6 August 2022.

After the 2022/23 Premier League fixtures had been published, the talk was all about what a tough tough opening schedule Newcastle United had been given.

This is what the Premier League results turned out to be before we got to the September 2022 international break:

Newcastle 2 Forest 0

Brighton 0 Newcastle 0

Newcastle 3 Man City 3

Wolves 1 Newcastle 1

Liverpool 2 Newcastle 1

Newcastle 0 Palace 0

(West Ham v Newcastle on Sunday 11 September 2022 was postponed due to the death of The Queen)

Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 1

I have had further episodes of Deja Vu because during this opening run of Premier League results and performances, I found myself having the same thoughts and conversations as I am now experiencing.

That early run of Newcastle United Premier League matches saw Eddie Howe and his players pick up only eight points from their first seven PL games. However, it was clear (at least to me) that the performances had been a lot better than the results suggested. As well as some poor /wayward Newcastle United finishing – wasting a very decent number of chances created, NUFC seemed to get pretty much any bad luck going. All the fine margins going against Newcastle, as opposition keepers made key saves at key times, whilst luck deserted our players and referee / VAR decisions exacerbated the problems.

Is this beginning to sound familiar to even the biggest current Newcastle United critics?

That opening run of eight points from the first seven Premier League games this season, was then followed by twenty five points from the next nine NUFC PL matches, eight wins and a draw.

I am not claiming that that kind of improved Newcastle United form will automatically follow BUT I do feel that there is massive room for optimism, if Eddie Howe’s players keep up their general level of play that we have recently seen, even / especially in these recent defeats to Liverpool, Man U and Man City, then I do think that with a bit of average luck returning, Newcastle United can definitely get back on track and the goals will also start to flow again, providing the chances keep getting created.

This next run of matches sees Newcastle United play:

Wolves (H), Forest (A), Man Utd (H), West Ham (A), Brentford (A), Villa (A), Tottenham (H), Everton (A), Southampton (H)

In these nine reverse fixtures earlier this season, Newcastle United were unbeaten and picked up 21 points from a possible 27, with six wins, three draws and no defeats. My belief is that kind of form would all but guarantee NUFC a top four place.

If Newcastle United can beat Wolves and Forest in these next two matches, they would then only need 15 points from the other seven games in this run, to match that 21 points return from those nine reverse fixtures.

Under Eddie Howe, Newcastle United have absolutely shown that they can put some great runs of form together, regularly keeping clean sheets, scoring goals and picking up wins / points.

Time for us all to pull together and get these first couple of wins against Wolves and Forest, then go on from there.

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