- Toon were disappointed by shoddy recruiting and were left toothless on Saturday.
- Gordon was the last man to upgrade the first XI, joining in January 2023.
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If you live and die by your recruitment, Newcastle United are learning that getting it wrong can leave you breathless.
Four without a win in the Premier League, no goals from open play in almost seven hours and the feeling that Eddie Howe’s best XI is weaker than two years ago.
Key players like Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson have aged and are increasingly absent, while others like Fabian Schar and Dan Burn are performing well but will turn 33 this season.
There hasn’t been the necessary updating and improvement when it comes to trading, and that’s why Howe faces a big challenge in stimulating a team that has become a bit stagnant.
Take Saturday. They were brilliant for 35 minutes but didn’t score because they had a striker, Alexander Isak, who was rusty and wasted two glorious chances on his return from injury. Why hasn’t a more reliable deputy been signed? Meanwhile, on the right, they tried first with Jacob Murphy and then with Miguel Almirón. Obviously, the quality is not there.
Newcastle are paying the price for their poor signing with their waste in front of goal
Why hasn’t a capable back been signed to support Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson?
Anthony Gordon is the latest to arrive to truly improve the team and signed in January 2023.
Four players who arrived in the summer of last year for £150m in total failed to improve the first XI and that showed in the 1-0 defeat to Brighton.
All four players signed for £150m in the summer of 2023 featured, but did any of them – Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall – improve the starting eleven? Not yet.
In January it will be two years since the arrival of Anthony Gordon and the last player who really improved the level of the team. Forget PSR, you just have to be smarter. Newcastle took their eyes off the ball and the result is this: they can’t put it in the back of the net at the moment.
Once Brighton led the excellent Danny Welbeck in the 35th minute, Newcastle’s confident start slowly came to nothing. There was little faith on the field or in the stands that they could salvage a point during the final half hour, and that seemed implausible after the aggression and offensive intent of the first half.
When Manchester City falls behind at home, that inspires them. Newcastle lacked inspiration after their setback and, to expand on the point, look like a club in need of some galvanisation. The team needs an injection of new life and, to remember the mantra at the top, recruitment is the best means of resuscitation.