Coach Howe under observation
©IMAGO
9 wins and 9 losses, 33 goals scored and 33 conceded, 11th place in the Premier League. Newcastle United started the season as a Champions League participant, had the fifth-highest expenditure of any team in the world this season and is still having a disappointing season. In England’s elite league the Magpies are mediocre, in the FA Cup they barely survived the first game, in the premier class they have to take a detour through the intermediate round and in the EFL Cup the NUFC as defending champions have already been eliminated. With Stefan Bienkowski from Transfermarkt.co.uk we shed light on Newcastle’s unsatisfactory situation surrounding top newcomer Nick Woltemade under coach Eddie Howe.
“For the passionate fans of Newcastle, the season so far is without a doubt one to forget,” says Bienkowski about the situation at St. James’ Park. The start of the year was also hardly forgiving. Of the first ten games in 2026, Newcastle only won two in the league, one on penalties in the cup and one in the Champions League. “Apart from the League Cup exit, which they were trying to defend after last season’s historic title, Howe’s side only spent one matchday out of 24 in the top six of the Premier League,” says Bienkowski. The expert knows: Coach Howe is under observation.
“Howe’s fifth season at Newcastle is his weakest,” says the expert, even if only based on the current status. The coach currently has a season average of 1.55 points per game, less than the 1.57 points in the 21/22 and 23/24 seasons and a decline of 20 percent compared to the strong previous season that led Newcastle to the Champions League. Bienkowski cites the double burden as a possible explanation for the team’s weakness.
Newcastle’s low-scoring attack despite high spending
However, Newcastle’s lack of form cannot be explained solely by the busy calendar. “In defense of Howe, after the defeat against Man City on Wednesday evening, he himself addressed the club’s biggest problem,” emphasizes Bienkowski. Howe had admitted to the press that the exploitation of opportunities was inadequate. In fact, they appeared extremely harmless in front of the goal, although the 75 million euro transfer of Woltemade from VfB Stuttgart initially seemed to be a success.
Woltemade scored nine competitive goals in the first half of the season. After the turn of the year, the Bremen native was not yet successful. Eleven Premier League teams now have more goals to their name than Newcastle’s 33. At the end of last season, only the teams from the top three scored more often. Then they sold top scorer Alexander Isak to Liverpool for 145 million euros and brought in a trio of Woltemade, Yoane Wissa (Brentford) and Anthony Elanga (Nottingham Forest) for a total of 194 million euros.
“The numbers are alarming,” says Bienkowski. “After Wednesday’s game against Man City, Elanga has only managed one goal and two assists in 32 games for Newcastle, Wissa has failed to repeat his form from last season and has just three goals and one assist in 17 games, and Woltemade has only registered nine goals and four assists in 35 games across all competitions. So even if you add up the performances of all three players, their total of 20 goals and assists falls well short of Isak’s 34 goals and assists last season approach.”
The expert said: “Of course, new signings need time to adapt to their new surroundings and no-one expected that one of the new players would take over Isak’s role overnight and replace the striker. But if Howe fails to get one of his top three new signings to score and/or assist on a regular basis in the coming weeks, Newcastle could end the season in mid-table and potentially look for a new coach in the summer.”
