With four defeats in their last five Premier League games, a mounting injury list and schedule ahead, the Newcastle boss is in a tricky spot
How bad has it gotten at Newcastle? Well, they’re below Manchester United in the table now which, giving the doubt and uncertainty at Old Trafford, cannot be a good sign. They’ve lost eight of their last 12 games, going out of the Champions League and Carabao Cup. There were a smattering of boos after Tuesday’s 3-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest, a team who had previously won one away game all season. It’s not quite a crisis yet but there is definitely potential crisis in the air.
The next three games feel key. In the league Newcastle face Liverpool away and Manchester City at home, two fixtures that would be daunting even if they were in form. And in between those matches, on the first Saturday of the year, they travel to Sunderland in the FA Cup. The FA Cup would, anyway, present a dilemma for Newcastle; the league and securing Champions League qualification again, is, obviously, the priority but the Cup is the only opportunity they have left for a trophy this season, their only chance to end a trophy drought that stretches back to 1969.
